Band 7.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-08

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people say that in all levels of education, from primary schools to universities, too much time is spent on learning facts and not enough on learning practical skills.

Do you agree or disagree?

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

 

Student answer (Band 7.5)

Some people believe that schools and universities spend too much time teaching facts and not enough time developing practical skills. I agree with this opinion because practical skills are important for students’ future careers and daily lives.

Firstly, learning facts is certainly necessary in education. Students need to have basic knowledge in subjects such as mathematics, science, history and languages. For example, students cannot become good engineers without learning mathematical and scientific theories. However, memorising a large amount of information does not always mean that students understand how to use it in real life. In some schools, students spend many hours preparing for exams by remembering information, but they may have few opportunities to apply their knowledge.

Secondly, practical skills can help students become more prepared for their future jobs. Skills such as communication, teamwork, problem-solving and using technology are needed in almost every workplace. For instance, a university student may know many theories about business, but they may still struggle in a real company if they have never worked in a team or communicated with customers. Therefore, schools and universities should provide more projects, presentations, internships and other activities that allow students to practise these skills.

In my opinion, the best education system should have a balance between knowledge and practical experience. Facts provide students with a strong foundation, while practical activities teach them how to use this knowledge effectively. For example, science students could learn scientific theories in class and then carry out experiments in a laboratory.

In conclusion, I agree that too much attention is sometimes given to learning facts rather than practical skills. Although factual knowledge is important, students should also have enough opportunities to develop skills that will help them in their future careers and everyday lives.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 8.0

You have fully addressed all parts of the prompt by clearly stating your position in the introduction and maintaining it throughout the essay. Your ideas are well-developed, particularly in the second and third paragraphs where you provide specific examples such as communication, teamwork, and laboratory experiments to support your argument. The response is balanced, acknowledging the necessity of factual knowledge while effectively arguing for the inclusion of practical skills. The conclusion provides a clear summary that reinforces your main point. Overall, the response is focused, relevant, and demonstrates a clear understanding of the task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 8.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear progression of ideas. Each paragraph has a central theme, starting with the necessity of facts, moving to the importance of practical skills, and concluding with a balanced perspective. You have used cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'However', 'For instance', and 'In conclusion' effectively to guide the reader through your argument. The paragraphing is appropriate and contributes to the overall clarity of the text. The relationship between ideas is clear, and the flow is smooth throughout the response, meeting the requirements for a high band score in this criterion.

Lexical Resource — Band 7.0

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to discuss the topic with precision. Phrases like 'future careers', 'scientific theories', and 'provide a strong foundation' are used accurately. While the vocabulary is functional and clear, it is somewhat standard. To achieve a higher band, you could incorporate more sophisticated or less common collocations and idiomatic expressions. For example, instead of 'good engineers', you might use 'proficient engineers' or 'competent professionals'. The spelling is accurate throughout, and your word choice is appropriate for the formal tone of an IELTS essay.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 7.5

Your writing displays a good variety of complex sentence structures, such as the use of conditional-like structures ('if they have never worked...') and subordinate clauses ('Although factual knowledge is important...'). The majority of your sentences are error-free, and your control over punctuation and tense usage is consistent. There are no significant grammatical errors that impede communication. To reach the highest band, you could aim for even greater structural variety, perhaps by incorporating more advanced passive constructions or inverted sentence structures to add further sophistication to your writing.

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