Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-03

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In the future nobody will buy printed newspapers or books because they will be able to read everything they want online without paying. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Reading is a good habit as it makes you discipline.It is a believe of many people that every person should adopt reading as it widens knowledge and build up your personality, and reading physically by looking at book put more impact. I also believe that printed items would not get vanished in future and would not get that much effected by online materials.

Some people agrees that online website will have impact on printed newspapers and books but many people prefer reading by looking at the physical paper. This makes you more focus on reading rather than focusing on other things like messges or any other website if you are reading on laptop or ipad. It is easy for you to remember things, and also much beneficial for your health in many ways. The rays from the screen of devices may effect your eyes and weaken them. Loosing focus put major impact on achieving the different task. Many things in online are not everytime free, like when I was in my undergraduate, I want to research on some topic which was only available in some specific book. When I searched for that book so the website asked me for subscription charges.

Likewise, everyone do have internet connection everytime. If they want to know about some important information about some event so the books available can be really helpful for this purpose. Different institutes provides books to students, and they prefer that students should study from book only to remain focus to studies. If we talk about adults who are not so much aware of using mobiles and laptops, it will be really hectic for them to search for the different news and read those. Newspaper will be a better option for them to get to know about the news as all the news are available in that. It is also a good habit for adult to remain active. Use of online searches also stress up your brain.

On the other hand, online information also have some benefits which can't be ignored. The latest news are available all the time which keeps you socially active. Use of paper is not good for enviroment, so reduction in it will clean up the enviroment. If any new book get published so easy access is available to it.

Overall, the agreement of online reading cannot outweigh the disagreements of printed books and newspapers. Reading on paper is very benefical for a person as I believe, and we cannot discard the use of printed papers and books from our life.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your essay addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both sides of the argument and presenting a clear personal position throughout. You successfully outline reasons why printed books and newspapers remain important, such as reduced eye strain, fewer digital distractions, accessibility issues with paywalls, and the needs of older generations. However, some ideas remain under-developed or briefly stated, preventing the response from reaching a higher level. For example, your point about internet connectivity issues and older people struggling with technology is introduced but not fully elaborated with deeper explanations or wider societal examples. To reach the next level, you would need to extend and support all your main ideas more thoroughly rather than moving quickly from one point to the next.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

Your essay has a recognizable overall arrangement, with an introduction, clearly separated body paragraphs covering different viewpoints, and a concluding summary. Progression is generally maintained, but the flow is sometimes hindered by mechanical or slightly repetitive use of cohesive devices. For instance, phrases like 'Some people agrees that...' and transition words at the beginnings of paragraphs feel a bit formulaic. Additionally, paragraphing is attempted, but some paragraphs contain multiple distinct sub-arguments—such as health issues, paywalls, and connectivity—which can disrupt the logical grouping of ideas. To improve, ensure that each paragraph focuses strictly on one central theme and that cohesive devices connect ideas more naturally and smoothly without relying on repetitive structures.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You demonstrate an adequate vocabulary range to communicate your perspective on reading habits and digital media. You attempt some less common vocabulary and phrases, such as 'subscription charges', 'socially active', and 'disagreements of printed books', but these attempts are occasionally marred by inaccurate word choice, collocation, or word form errors. For instance, writing 'makes you discipline' instead of 'disciplined', 'it is a believe' instead of 'belief', 'online items would not get vanished', and 'online information also have some benefits' shows limitations in lexical control. Spelling and word choice are generally sufficient for the reader to follow your argument, but frequent slips in word forms and prepositions prevent you from demonstrating the precision and flexibility expected at higher levels.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Your writing displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt to construct more elaborate ideas with subordinate clauses. However, your sentences contain frequent errors in grammar and punctuation that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. There are recurring issues with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'everyone do have', 'online information also have', 'new book get published'), article usage ('look at book', 'in future', 'for enviroment'), pluralization, and verb tense consistency. Additionally, attempts at complex sentence structures often result in awkward phrasing or structural faults, such as 'When I searched for that book so the website asked me'. To improve your grammatical score, you should focus on tightening your sentence structures, checking basic agreement rules, and carefully proofreading your work for articles and verb forms.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.