Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-22

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)

Humans are social animals. Being isolated in the forest full of people can only decrease a person's chance of survival. Mankind from day one started making relations and tried to strengthen the bonds with each other and that is how the societies formed, emerged and evolved. Those who kept themseleves isolated from society or people, ended up in depression.

Helping others in time of need strengthen the bond and relationship between each other. So the most important thing about being rich is that one has the opportunity to help others. As through wealth any commodity can be bought, any necessity can be fulfilled and any wish can come true. By being rich necessities of people can be fulfilled. If someone want food, shelter or cloth, it can be provided by spending wealth and only rich person can help in this manner.

This notion can be agreed upon to some extent. The idea that help can only be done through money is false. One can help others physically mentally and spiritually. If a wealthy person fell ill and there is no one which can take good care of him, so in this time of need a person helps the man and do his work. A person is going through some kind of depression or pshycological crisis, some words of kindness can heal him and help him in taking himself out from the state of despair. A good advice and showing someone right path in terms of morality or spirituality can also benefit others and can help them living a peaceful life.

In conclusion, a rich has great opportunity to help others but it shouldn't be misinterpreted that by only using wealth we can help others. By completing someone's task or sharing some good advise can also help people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the question and give a qualified position: wealth creates valuable opportunities to help, but it is not the only way to support people. The examples of providing food, shelter and clothing, followed by emotional and spiritual support, are relevant. However, the discussion does not fully establish why helping others is the most important aspect of being rich, rather than simply one important benefit. Some claims are broad—for example, that only a rich person can provide necessities—and the examples are not developed with specific explanation. The opening discussion of social bonds is relevant background but takes space without directly advancing your evaluation. Make your degree of agreement explicit earlier and explain the importance of this benefit in comparison with other possible benefits of wealth.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs presenting different aspects of helping, and a conclusion. The shift from financial assistance to non-financial support gives the essay a basic line of progression. However, connections between ideas are sometimes mechanical or unclear. Repeated use of “help” and “person” makes the discussion feel repetitive, while “So” and “As” do not always create clear logical links. The opening paragraph also delays the central position, and the conclusion repeats the main point rather than drawing the two sides together. Use clearer topic sentences and link each example explicitly to your qualified agreement; vary referencing so readers can easily identify who is being discussed.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “necessity,” “fulfilled,” “depression,” “psychological crisis,” and “state of despair.” This gives you enough language to discuss both material and emotional support. However, the range is limited by repeated general words such as “help,” “person,” and “good,” and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or awkward, including “cloth” for clothing, “a rich,” and “showing someone right path.” Spelling errors such as “themseleves,” “pshycological,” and “advise” also reduce accuracy. Build a more precise range for describing assistance and wealth, and check spelling and word forms carefully. More natural collocations would make your ideas clearer and more fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including conditional structures such as “If someone want food…” and a longer example beginning “If a wealthy person fell ill…”. However, complex sentences are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to make some passages difficult to follow. Examples include subject–verb agreement in “Helping others… strengthen” and “someone want,” missing or incorrect articles in “only rich person,” and the unclear construction “there is no one which can take good care of him.” The final sentence also has an awkward structure: “can also help people” does not clearly connect to the preceding phrase. Practise accurate agreement, articles, relative clauses and sentence boundaries. Shorter, controlled sentences would help you express the examples clearly before attempting longer structures.

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

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