Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-23

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)

It is believed that students spend substantial time throughout their educational years learning facts and not enough on acquiring practical skills. While learning facts supports students in passing exams and completing degrees, I still think a balance between the two is what actually helps in surviving challenges in adulthood.

During primary and university level studies, a fixed curriculum is followed. The way students are generally taught is by focusing on how much knowledge they will be able to produce in their finals. The emphasis shifts from building solid knowledge and foundation to mastering memorization and just scoring. Students spend so much time cramming that they fail to develop practical life skills like communication and confidence. Although some might be of the view that children have their whole lives ahead of them and can initiate learning the life skills at any time, as per my view it often gets too late for that,. The graduate enter the practical world oblivious of basic survival skills for instance, they will not be able to manage interacting and cordinating with a team in professional workplaces because they had been so accustomed to studying alone.

On the flip side, graduates who participated in extra curricular activities along with academics are often observed to be well rounders. They know the balance and have the ability to manage multiple things simultaneously as they survived academic pressure yet managed to be involved in activities like sports in parallel. Those activities help students to develop communication skills and make collaborative efforts towards common goals. Additionally, this helps in reinforcing academics aswell. An example could be of how Bake sales at school, gives the oppotunity to the students to work on multiple skills together. They learn by example, a practical situation combined with academic principles of businness studies and mathematics.

To conclude, much emphasis is placed on making students learn facts in our educational institutions and learning practical skills is quite undermined despite it playing a major role after graduation.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, clearly stating a position in favor of balancing facts with practical skills. The ideas are relevant and supported by examples, such as the mention of bake sales to illustrate practical application. The argument is developed logically throughout the essay. To reach a higher band, the student could provide more depth in the discussion of 'primary schools' specifically, as the current focus leans heavily toward university-level graduates. However, the overall task response is clear and well-supported.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used effectively, such as 'On the flip side' and 'Additionally,' to transition between ideas. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct points. While the flow is generally smooth, some minor issues with punctuation and sentence structure occasionally make the progression feel slightly mechanical. Overall, the information is presented in a coherent manner that is easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey ideas with precision, using terms like 'oblivious,' 'cramming,' and 'collaborative efforts.' There are some minor errors in word choice and spelling, such as 'cordinating' (coordinating) and 'well rounders' (well-rounded individuals). Additionally, 'businness' is misspelled. Despite these occasional inaccuracies, the vocabulary is adequate for the task and allows for clear communication of complex ideas.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'The graduate enter' (should be 'graduates enter'), 'as per my view it often gets too late for that,.' (punctuation error), and 'gives the oppotunity' (subject-verb agreement error). While these errors are noticeable, they do not impede the reader's understanding of the main arguments. To improve, the student should focus on subject-verb agreement and proofreading for punctuation slips.

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

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