Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-14

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some say that the most important thing about being rich is that one has the opportunity to help others. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

 

Student answer (Band 5.5)

being rich can be a blessing in disguise one of the attributes of the human nature is being greedy and selfish having large amounts of money and being extremely wealthy can be a magnifier to such attributes however the moral thing to do when being very rich absolutely should be helping people and being there for the need of others doing so is extremely rewarding and it gives a great amount of satisfaction relief and comfort sadly not much people are fortunate enough to have such opportunity having ot shouldn't go to waste and definitely one should take advantage of it to help others in need greed creates a hole within a man's soul such hole will never be filled no matter how much more money and power are acquired the process of always pursuing wealth only for the sake of it makes you fall into a never ending pit of dissatisfaction similar to a drug addict seeking that first felling of high on the contrary spending money and resources to help others without expecting any type of wordly gain can push you to ne a better person and help you to be selfless caring and a valuable member of your community so yes i very much agree that the statement saying that the most important thing about being rich is that one has the opportunity to help others and quiet frankly i support this claim and i advise anyone who has been blessed by the gift of wealth to use it for the sake of goodness and help those who are in need

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing whether helping others is the most important aspect of being rich. The writer presents a clear position of strong agreement, stating that wealth can magnify negative traits like greed unless it is used to help others. Ideas are extended with philosophical arguments about the emptiness of chasing money for its own sake compared to the fulfillment of altruism. However, the development tends to be somewhat repetitive rather than progressively structured, and certain assertions are slightly over-generalized. While the task is adequately addressed, the overall depth of exploration falls slightly short of the Band 7 threshold, placing it securely at Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The most significant structural flaw in this response is the complete absence of paragraphing and punctuation, as the entire text is written as a single, unbroken block. This makes navigation and logical progression much harder for the reader, characteristic of lower band descriptors. Although there are basic cohesive devices used to link thoughts, such as 'however', 'on the contrary', and 'so yes', the lack of visual paragraph breaks severely limits coherence. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the lack of full stops results in run-on sentences. Therefore, this criterion corresponds to a Band 4.5, rounded to a stable Band 5.0 due to the presence of logical connectors like 'on the contrary'.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common phrases such as 'blessing in disguise', 'magnifier to such attributes', 'never ending pit of dissatisfaction', and 'wordly gain'. However, there are notable spelling errors ('felling' instead of 'feeling', 'quiet' instead of 'quite') and occasional word-choice inaccuracies ('not much people' instead of 'not many people', 'having ot' instead of 'having it'). These minor slips do not impede overall communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a Band 6.0, as the vocabulary is sufficient for the task but lacks the sustained precision and control required for higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The grammatical range features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but the total absence of punctuation (capital letters and full stops) throughout the entire response represents a severe mechanical flaw. While the writer attempts complex structures such as conditional and participial ideas, the lack of sentence boundaries leads to fused sentences and punctuation errors that persist constantly. Even though the grammar within individual clauses is often understandable, the complete disregard for sentence demarcation prevents the writing from achieving a higher score, aligning best with a Band 4.5 rounded to 5.0.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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