Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-17

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 6.5)

The standard of living is one of the most debated topics today and the modern era is considered to be the best for living by many. However the rest argues that previous centuries were better. I believe every era has it's own significance to life and it gets better and better by time.

The current era has a lot of work, opportunities and stress. To explain it further, nowadays, everyone works and earns. People are able to live a luxury life as they are earning and can afford a high standard of living. As a result, people can live a contented and prosperous life. They are able to get their dreams fulfilled and enjoy the luxury.

However, I imagine that everything comes with it's own price. The modern society is suffering from stress and anxiety. This is because of the increasing focus on money and material. For instance, population is running behind money, to fill their homes with luxury. They keep on working and earning money but forget about emotions and feelings. Thus, the modern time is good to live a high standard living but at the cost of emotional emptiness as folks have no time to express their feelings.

The previous centuries can be seen as interesting to live as people were very open about their feelings and they knew how to express them. They were free of materialism and focused on a simple but happy living. So it would be amazing to live in that time as people were less focused on money and more aware about their feelings. There was no stress of the so-called standards of living. Consequently, happiness was easy to find in past unlike today where living means working non-stop and having no time to talk about emotions.

In conclusion, it cannot be denied that modern era gives everybody a chance to live a luxurious life, which was once a dream for many however in the past people were less stressed and depressed. I presume the best time to live was the past because living does not only means making money and buying more things but also means to be happy and enjoy every moment and become emotionally strong.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the opinion on whether the modern era is the best, and the identification of an interesting historical period. The position is clear throughout. However, the development of ideas is somewhat repetitive. For instance, the discussion on 'stress' and 'materialism' in the modern era is revisited multiple times without adding significant new depth. To reach a higher band, you should aim to provide more specific examples or nuanced arguments rather than restating the same points about money and emotions. The conclusion is consistent with the body paragraphs, maintaining a clear stance.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two main parts of the prompt. Cohesive devices such as 'However', 'For instance', 'Thus', and 'Consequently' are used to link ideas. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there is a tendency to repeat similar sentence structures at the start of paragraphs. The flow is generally smooth, but the progression of ideas could be more sophisticated to achieve a higher score.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express opinions clearly. There is some use of less common items like 'materialism', 'prosperous', and 'emotional emptiness'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there is a reliance on simpler phrasing (e.g., 'running behind money', 'good to live'). Some word choices are slightly unnatural, such as 'the rest argues' instead of 'others argue'. To improve, focus on more precise collocations and a wider variety of academic vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is always clear, there are recurring grammatical errors, particularly with apostrophes (e.g., 'it's' used for 'its' in 'it's own significance' and 'it's own price'). There are also minor errors in article usage and subject-verb agreement, such as 'population is running' instead of 'people are running' or 'the population is running'. These errors do not impede communication, but they prevent the essay from reaching a higher band for accuracy.

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