Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-14

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Plastic bags, plastic bottles and plastic packaging are bad for the environment.

What damage does plastic do to the environment?

What can be done by governments and individuals to solve this problem?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 4.5)

Some people think that it is acceptable to use animals in Medical Research for the benefit of human beings, while other people argue that it is wrong .

discuss both views and give your opinion?

People's opinion differ as to whether animals should be used for medical research for the benefit of human beings or not. I will discuss both views; however, I agree with the latter view, which I will discuss in the upcoming paragraphs.

Those who argue for using animals for research have their reasons. Firstly, animals are stronger and has strong amunity as compared to human beings. Therefore, there is less side-effects of any test on them. Because of their genetics, their body instantly make the antitoude of any disease. Secondly, animals do not have feelings and emotions so they can be considered as a test subject. they also do not have social bonding among them, as a result of this, they can be separated their group and kept in observation.

Nevertheless, despite the aforementioned arguments, I agree with those who feel that animals should not be used as a test subject. Animals are main part of life cycle. In other words, they paly an important to stable the ecosystem. If human continue the research on animals, they could be disappear on earth, which indirectly affects the people's life. Furthermore, when researchers use the animal as a test subject, sometimes outcomes are worse than expected. It could be hard for scientist to control these diseases. In which, Corona Virus can be a good example, It has been found by scientist that this virus may be side-effects of doing experiments on animals.

In my opinion, although there are few reasons that animals can be used for research, my own view is that it is wrong because it cause in-balance in eco-system, and sometime it might be hard for any scientist to overcome its side-effects.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0

The candidate has written an essay about animal testing rather than the prompt's actual topic regarding plastic pollution and environmental damage caused by plastic bags, bottles, and packaging. Consequently, the response is entirely off-topic for the assigned Task 2 prompt. In terms of task response descriptors, addressing a completely different topic fails to satisfy the core requirements of the task. Although the student attempts to present both views and give an opinion, these ideas are applied to the wrong subject matter. Therefore, this falls under a severe task achievement penalty for missing the prompt entirely, earning a band 3.0 or lower, but following standard marking protocols for off-topic responses where language is still evaluated, the score reflects the failure to engage with the actual stimulus.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

Despite being off-topic, the essay demonstrates a discernible structure with an introduction, body paragraphs discussing distinct points, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate ideas. Cohesive devices are attempted, such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'Nevertheless', although some referencing is awkward (e.g., 'In which, Corona Virus can be a good example'). Overall logical progression is present within the essay's own framework, placing it solidly in the mid-bands for cohesion despite the severe content mismatch.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, with noticeable errors in word choice and morphology. Examples include 'amunity' instead of immunity, 'antitoude' instead of antibody, and 'paly an important to stable' instead of play an important role in stabilizing. While the candidate attempts some less common vocabulary such as 'ecosystem' and 'observe', the high frequency of lexical errors and awkward collocations limits the effectiveness of communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but grammatical accuracy is quite low throughout. There are frequent errors in subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'animals are stronger and has strong amunity', 'animals do not have feelings... so they can be considered', 'If human continue... they could be disappear'), incorrect prepositions, and structural awkwardness. Punctuation errors are also present, such as incorrect comma splices before examples. These errors occasionally cause difficulty for the reader.

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

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