Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-04

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people say that now is the best time in history to be living.

What is your opinion about this?

What other time in history would be interesting to live in?

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

A few individuals believe that current period is the best time one to create history due to several reasons associated with this factors. I understand concurrent time is given more flexibility and made life easy to survive. I personally subscribe that past life was better period one to live, even though, this lacks advancement in all ways to make the things easy and faster.

To commence with, the primary reason to support why the 80 or 90s life was more nostalgic moments for one to live happy without much stress is people were happy whatever they earn due to the minimal standard of living. If one person income serves complete family to maintain, unlike today, the situation demands everyone to earn their own bread and butter due to higher cost of living and inflation rates. Moreover, in the past people were in joint family and they had strong connections with each other to look after well being and also celebrate all the occasion jointly, this lacks in the contemporary era.

Similarly, people were more healthy since they consume all the organic food products and also not addicted to restaurant or processed food. Moreover, even though they lack modern equipments and technology for the easy movement but they were more comfortable with t.

Nevertheless, people who support the former notion say that contemporary era has made life easy in terms of living in all the ways due to the flexibility and convenient technology. Because nowadays one can do numerous tasks sitting in one place like pay bills, shopping, studying and easy travelling to any place.

To conclude, even though modern days are more convenient and help people in various ways, yet a few decades was peaceful days for one to live life without much anxiety and stress.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the opinion on whether today is the best time to live and the identification of another interesting period. However, the development is somewhat uneven. The discussion of the 80s and 90s is clear, but the explanation of why the current era is considered 'best' by some is quite brief. The position is clear throughout, but the arguments could be more deeply extended with more specific examples rather than general statements about 'organic food' or 'joint families'. To reach a higher band, ensure that both sides of the argument are explored with equal depth and specific, illustrative detail.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is logically organized into paragraphs, each with a clear focus. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To commence with', 'Moreover', and 'Nevertheless', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions feel a bit mechanical or repetitive. Additionally, there are instances where the flow is slightly hindered by awkward phrasing, such as the abrupt ending of the third paragraph ('...they were more comfortable with t.'). While the overall progression is clear, the management of cohesion could be more sophisticated and less reliant on basic linking words to achieve a higher score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express their ideas clearly. There are attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'inflation rates', 'contemporary era', and 'flexibility'. However, there are several instances of imprecise word choice and collocation errors, such as 'create history' instead of 'live in history', 'concurrent time' instead of 'current times', and 'look after well being' which is grammatically incomplete. The range is sufficient to communicate, but lacks the precision and natural collocation required for a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the flow. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('this factors', 'people was'), missing articles ('in joint family'), and awkward sentence construction ('I personally subscribe that past life was better period one to live'). Punctuation is generally functional, but the sentence structure often feels clunky. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence patterns and ensuring consistent subject-verb agreement and article usage.

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