Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-20

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)

It is believed by some part of society that this is the best time to be living at compared to the past. However, others think that people used to lead a better life in the past. In my view, people have a lot of facilities today. Whereas they were healthier in the past.

To begin with, it is usually observed by thinkers that modern times are the best to living is due to the fact that in the past, people did not have as many amenities they had to spend a lot of time doing things, but in this modern era, they have machines that make human life more convenient and fast. For example, in the past, if people wanted to visit somewhere, they had to walk a lot; however, these days there are cars and public transportation that save a lot of time and energy. Ultimately, it makes the human living standard very smooth and easy.

On the other hand, in the past, people were more fit and healthier as compared to today because in the past people used to do hard work that required their physical strength, as there were very few electronic gadgets were available and they had to walk and run to do their work. To instance, in 18th century, the disease rate was almost zero because people were very health-conscious about their lives. Therefore, this led to happiness and long life.

In conclusion, in my opinion, people get more facilities in this contemporary era as phones, cars and other electronic devices make thier life very easy and fast. However, they become more lazy and less health-conscious nowadays

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You give a clear general view: modern life offers more convenience, while people in the past were healthier. The body paragraphs provide relevant examples, such as transport and physical work. However, the response does not fully answer the second question: it never identifies a particular historical period that would be interesting for you to live in, or explains why you would choose it. The opening also presents both sides without making your own position fully clear, and the conclusion mainly repeats the comparison rather than resolving it. Some support is unclear or over-generalised, especially the claim that disease rates in the eighteenth century were almost zero. Address both questions directly, state your opinion consistently, and explain examples more carefully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure, with an introduction, two contrasting body paragraphs and a conclusion. The ideas generally progress from modern conveniences to past physical health, and signposts such as “To begin with,” “On the other hand” and “In conclusion” help readers follow the discussion. However, the contrast in the introduction (“Whereas they were healthier in the past”) is left as a fragment, and the conclusion does not clearly bring the two points together. Some linking is mechanical, with repeated “in the past” and “because,” while “To instance” does not connect the example accurately. Improve cohesion by linking each example explicitly to the paragraph’s main claim and using clearer references, rather than relying mainly on formulaic transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic vocabulary to communicate the main comparison, including “amenities,” “public transportation,” “physical strength” and “electronic gadgets.” There is also some attempt at less common phrasing, such as “living standard.” However, several choices or collocations are unnatural or imprecise: “best to living,” “human living standard very smooth,” and “health-conscious about their lives.” “Disease rate was almost zero” is also an overly broad and inaccurate-sounding expression. Spelling errors such as “thier” are noticeable. Build precision by learning common collocations for quality of life, convenience and health, and check word forms and spelling during revision. This would make the argument sound more natural without requiring unusually advanced vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and complex sentences, including clauses with “because,” “if” and “however,” and the main ideas are usually understandable. Some sentence patterns are controlled, as in the example about cars and public transportation saving time and energy. However, errors occur in both basic and more ambitious structures. “Whereas they were healthier in the past” is not a complete sentence, and “there were very few electronic gadgets were available” combines incompatible structures. Other examples include “best time to be living at compared to the past” and “people get more facilities,” where the grammatical pattern is faulty. Practise complete sentence construction and clause formation, then check articles, prepositions and verb forms. More accurate complex sentences would strengthen the response.

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