Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-04

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)

Many people are of the opinion that now is the best time in history to be living.

They are not totally wrong because now we have a lot things that makes life living so intresting. Things like the Internet, Artificial Intelligence, advance Science and Technology.

Living can be very nice because we have a lot of things that will keep you busy, with your mobile phone, Tablet, Laptop, Desktop or any form of internet connectivity device you are good and you will have a great time because the social media is there to entertain you.

On the one hand, living now has its own challenges that are associated with the internet and social media. Negative news tends to spread faster because of the internet, the world has become a global village, so things easily go viral. Fraudsters easily operate because of the internet presence.

On the other hand, living in the time past was associated with a lot of good things that include less crime, less war and currence has more power. example in Nigeria our currency has more purchasing power and we could do a lot with our money unlike now that you can't do with our Naira.

Living in the past has advantages and disadvantages but i think the disadvantages is more than the advantages due to lack of internet. The presence of internet changed a lot of things in today's world. Like easy bank transactions, easy communication with someone far away, with the internet, the person is closer to you.

In conclusion, when you compare the two, you will see that both have their own challenges and benefits. I would be interested to lived in the history of when Jesus was around so that I can witness all his deeds and be sure that everything said in the Holy Bible is true, not someone trying to sell an idea to us.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear overall view that life today has benefits but also difficulties, and you identify a different historical period you would like to experience: the time of Jesus. The examples of internet-based communication and Nigeria’s changing purchasing power are relevant. However, the response only partly develops the comparison: the past is described broadly, and the claim of less crime and war is not supported or qualified. Your final reason for choosing Jesus’s time is personal and relevant, but could be explained further. Make your position more explicit from the introduction and develop each main reason with a specific example or explanation so that all parts of the task are addressed more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has an introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion, and the contrast between life today and life in the past gives it a basic organising structure. Linking phrases such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” help signal the direction of the discussion. However, progression is not always clear: the paragraph beginning “Living can be very nice” lists devices and social media without developing a distinct point, while the next paragraph shifts quickly from online harms to fraud. The comparison and the personal choice of Jesus’s time could be connected more smoothly. Use topic sentences to state each paragraph’s main idea, group related examples together, and make references such as “the person” more precise.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including topic-related terms such as “Artificial Intelligence,” “purchasing power,” “global village,” and “bank transactions.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions, for example “Negative news tends to spread faster” and “things easily go viral.” However, the range is limited in places by repeated general words such as “things,” “good,” and “a lot,” and some choices or forms are inaccurate, including “currence” and “advance Science.” Spelling errors such as “intresting” also reduce accuracy. Choose more precise terms for benefits and drawbacks, and check spelling and word forms during revision; this will make the ideas clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use mostly straightforward sentence patterns and attempt some longer structures, such as “Negative news tends to spread faster because of the internet” and the sentence explaining how the internet brings distant people closer. Meaning is generally recoverable, but errors occur often enough to make some sentences awkward or unclear. For example, “a lot things that makes life” has an article and agreement problem, and “the disadvantages is more” has a subject–verb agreement error. The sentence beginning “Living in the past has advantages” also shifts into “i think” without consistent capitalisation or punctuation. Practise accurate agreement, articles and complete sentence construction, then proofread punctuation and capital letters.

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