Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-12

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 5.5)

Few people believe that students has to spend more time on theory base study rather than practical learning from primary school to university education. In my opinion education system should include more practical teaching as it is very helpful after completing studies in any field.

First and foremost, Learning practical skills is better than memorizing answers. To explain this, Students have to memorize dozens of books to clear their final exam in any standards. However, they will forget everything after their examination. For example, Students can learn about business and managing money in theory but in actually when they have to apply in real life they do not have any idea about it.

The second reason is that, Practical teaching helps students to improve their cognitive skills at early age. For example, In healthcare administration course learning Microsoft word, scheduling patients , handling administrative task will be more useful in future as compared to theories.

To conclude, Although to learn the history of any civilization students needs to read theory, practical teaching is the most essential need in this time.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 250 words, reaching only 180 words. This significantly impacts the development of ideas, as the arguments remain superficial and lack sufficient depth or illustrative examples. While you clearly state your position in the introduction, the supporting points are underdeveloped. To improve, you must expand on your reasoning and provide more detailed, specific examples to meet the length requirement and demonstrate a more thorough exploration of the topic. The current brevity prevents a full development of the argument, which is a requirement for higher bands.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the progression of your argument. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'First and foremost', 'The second reason is that', and 'To conclude' to signal the structure. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and the connection between ideas could be smoother. The use of referencing is occasionally unclear, and the overall logical progression is limited by the brevity of the content. To achieve a higher score, focus on using a wider variety of linking words and ensuring that each paragraph develops a single, coherent idea more fully.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is adequate for the task but remains quite basic. You rely on common terms like 'helpful', 'important', and 'useful'. There are some minor errors in word choice, such as 'theory base study' instead of 'theory-based study' and 'in actually' instead of 'in reality'. To improve, you should aim to incorporate more precise, academic vocabulary related to the topic of education and skill acquisition. Using more sophisticated collocations and avoiding repetitive phrasing will help demonstrate a wider range of lexical resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally distract the reader. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('students has to spend' instead of 'students have to spend'), incorrect preposition usage, and punctuation errors, such as unnecessary capitalization ('Students', 'In', 'Microsoft word'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to lower the score. Focusing on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and consistent punctuation will significantly improve the clarity and accuracy of your writing.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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