Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-22

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 6.5)

A group of individuals believe that in all levels of education, from schools to universities, more emphasize is given to teach the facts instead of on hand training. I am completely in favour of this statement.

To commence with, if we see in any institution there are a lot of programs available which only includes theory instead of practical skills. For example, if we see University of Niagara there are 52 courses available in total and only 8 includes apprenticeship. Moreover, If someone enrolls himself or herself in a course then majority of program includes educational facts rather than practical knowledge. For instance, I myself studied Personal Support Worker program and I was informed that duration of program will be 8 months in total which includes 6 months of content learning and 2 months of on field training to help patients but It did not happen. I was taught facts in classroom for 7 months and I did practice for only a month.

Furthermore, colleges and schools find it budget friendly to provide non vocational courses only because it does not require additional learning materials and tools. To examplify, a program in economy is not as expensive as a course in chemistry as it does not need any chemicals. Additionaly, it is a challenge for institutions to have well educated staff in terms of real life experience. To explain it with an example, it is easier to hire a teacher of maths instead of searching a staff member with automative industry knowledge.

To conclude, it is clear that majority of schools and universities, promotes non-vocational learning rather than practical skills whereas equal time should be invested in both aspects for the bright future of pupils.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses the prompt clearly and maintains a consistent position throughout. You have provided relevant examples, such as your personal experience with the Personal Support Worker program and the cost-efficiency argument regarding chemistry versus economics courses. These ideas are well-supported and directly relevant to the topic. To reach a higher band, ensure that your arguments are balanced; while you focus well on why theory is over-emphasized, you could briefly acknowledge the necessity of theoretical foundations before pivoting to the need for more practical application. Overall, the task is fully addressed with well-developed ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You use cohesive devices such as 'To commence with', 'Moreover', 'Furthermore', and 'To conclude' to guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing and punctuation (e.g., 'If someone enrolls himself or herself in a course then majority of program...'). Paragraphing is used appropriately, and there is a clear progression of ideas from the personal example to the institutional/budgetary perspective. Improving the flow between sentences would help elevate this score.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'apprenticeship', 'non-vocational', and 'budget-friendly'. However, there are several word-choice errors and awkward collocations, such as 'more emphasize is given' (should be 'emphasis'), 'on hand training' (should be 'hands-on training'), and 'To examplify' (should be 'To exemplify'). While these errors do not impede communication, they indicate a need for more precise control over word forms and spelling. Expanding your vocabulary to include more academic collocations would strengthen your writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with articles ('the' University of Niagara, 'the' duration of program), subject-verb agreement, and pluralization ('majority of program includes' should be 'the majority of programs include'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with unnecessary capitalization after commas and missing commas in complex sentences. To improve, focus on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy and ensuring that complex sentence structures are constructed without errors.

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

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