Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-02

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)

Time is one of the few things that humans can not control. In this essay, i will be writing my opinion about some people who belive that now is the best time in the history to be living. I will also write about what other time in history would be interesting to live in.

The world has seen a lot of different civilizations from time to time and saying that the current time is the best to be living in, is a bizzare statement to make and most importantly it is not factual. We live in times, where the pollution is at its peak. The people around the world are commiting more crimes than has ever been recorded in the human history. Most people consume vegetables that are covered with pestisides and eat meat products that are injected with steroids, which eventually leads to poor health and discomfort around the society.

According to me, the best and interesting time to live in the history would be the period between the early fourteen to late sixteen centuary. There are several different reasons behind it, such as people used to travell by carts that were pulled by horses, bufflows and cows due to which the pollution was non existant in the world. The food products and meat was organic and had no impact on the health of the people.

Overall, I disagree with the statement that today is the best time to live in the history because i would rather live in a non-polluted world that has minimal noise pollution and people can still enjoy nature as it is, which is only be possible if i was born in the early fourteen centuary.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you disagree that the present is the best time to live, and you identify the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries as an alternative. You give relevant reasons, including pollution, food quality and the use of animal-drawn carts, so both questions are addressed. However, the comparison is not fully developed: claims that crime is at a record high and that earlier food was healthier are asserted without examples or support. The historical period is also broad, and you could explain more specifically what aspect of life then would interest you beyond lower pollution. Develop these points with a concrete example and acknowledge a possible advantage of modern life to make the argument more balanced.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph explaining your objections to modern life, a paragraph naming an earlier period, and a conclusion that restates your view. This makes the overall direction easy to follow. However, progression within the body paragraphs is limited, and several ideas are placed together without showing how they connect. For example, the claims about crime, pesticides and steroids could be grouped and explained as separate effects of modern life. Linking phrases such as “for instance” or “as a result” would clarify relationships, while the conclusion repeats the pollution point rather than drawing together the main reasons. More deliberate paragraph development and clearer links would improve cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “civilizations,” “pollution,” “pesticides,” “steroids” and “non-polluted,” and your meaning is generally understandable. There are also attempts at more specific language, such as “noise pollution” and “organic.” However, spelling errors and imprecise or unnatural combinations reduce control: examples include “bizzare,” “commiting,” “centuary” and “pollution is at its peak.” Some wording is repetitive, particularly “best time” and “people,” and “the best and interesting time” is not a natural phrase. Aim for accurate spelling and more precise collocations, such as describing pollution levels as “high” and food as “grown without synthetic pesticides.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple statements and longer sentences, including a relative clause in “products … that are injected with steroids” and a reason clause beginning “because.” The main ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “i will be writing” needs a capital pronoun and a more direct tense choice; “the people … are committing more crimes than has ever been recorded” has an agreement problem; and “which is only be possible” has an incorrect verb construction. There are also issues with articles and sentence punctuation, as in “in the history.” Practise accurate subject–verb agreement and verb forms, and proofread sentence boundaries and capitalisation while retaining your attempts at complex sentences.

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