Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-30

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)

Wealth provides a luxurious life. It is often argued by many people that the most crucial thing about being rich is that one has the opportunity to help others. Although some people might disagree with this statement, I strongly agree because wealthy people can support poor people and improve their lives.

There are many reasons associated with this topic. To begin with, wealthy people can help poor people because they have enough money. Helping other people also provides a sense of peace and satisfaction. For example, Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, has donated money to support health programmes and vaccines in poor countries. Hence, wealthy people can help others in many ways.

Furthermore, wealthy people can support poor children in their education. For instance, they can pay school fees and provide books and other educational materials to children who cannot afford education. As a result, poor children can get better educational opportunities and improve their future.

Eventually, rich people can also help poor people who cannot afford medicines. For example, wealthy people can pay for medical treatment and medicines for poor families. When rich people help others, they can also gain respect in society. Therefore, wealth gives people an opportunity to support others and improve their lives.

In conclusion, I strongly agree that being rich gives people an opportunity to help others. Wealthy people can support poor people in education and healthcare. Therefore, they can improve the lives of people in need.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear and consistent position in strong agreement with the statement. Ideas regarding education, healthcare, and personal satisfaction are presented to support the view, such as referencing Bill Gates and discussing educational support. However, the response falls short of the official 250-word minimum, containing 243 words. This negative word count impacts the full development of ideas, keeping the task response at Band 6.0. To reach higher bands, the student must expand their arguments further and ensure the essay consistently exceeds the minimum word count.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a logical overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct points, such as education and healthcare. Cohesive devices are employed, although some transitions like 'To begin with', 'Furthermore', and 'Eventually' feel slightly mechanical or repetitive in structure. Referencing is generally clear, and information flows reasonably well from one sentence to the next. For a higher score, the student should integrate a wider variety of advanced cohesive devices to connect ideas more fluidly rather than relying on formulaic transition phrases at the start of each paragraph.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully using terms like 'luxurious life', 'satisfaction', 'educational opportunities', and 'medical treatment'. However, the vocabulary is often repetitive, as seen with the frequent reuse of 'wealthy people', 'poor people', and 'help others'. There are occasional awkward lexical choices, such as using 'Eventually' when 'Additionally' or 'Finally' would be more appropriate for sequencing points. Spelling and word choice errors do not impede communication, placing this securely in the Band 6.0 range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writing contains a workable mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional or relative clauses like 'children who cannot afford education' and 'poor people who cannot afford medicines'. Grammatical accuracy is generally fair, and punctuation is managed adequately. However, sentence patterns tend to follow a repetitive subject-verb-object formula with limited variation in syntactic structure. While errors are infrequent and do not impede communication, the lack of a wider variety of complex structures prevents the essay from achieving a Band 7.0.

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