Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-17

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 6.0)

In today's fast-paced world, education is the most important thing for growing maturely, and gaining more education also helps you understand what's going on around you. Some people believe that, at all levels, education takes too much time to learn facts rather than to gather practical skills. However, in my opinion, I mostly agree with this

Starting with the fact that bookish knowledge is not the only important thing; if a person is only good at studies and he/she doesn't have any skills about how to talk with someone or how to use their knowledge in something extraordinary activities, then it's a waste of education. For Instance, talking about my two cousins, one of my cousins studied IT from a science background, and he is brilliant in studies, while my other cousin studied the same course, but from a commerce background; the main hype is that my cousin who is from commerce has more practical knowledge than the other, which is why he is earning way more than him. he also runs his own social media marketing business, and he is doing great in that, but the cousin from a science background only works under his boss. However, the cousin who is from a science background knows a few things; he can speak fluent English and read and write paragraphs faster, but the other one takes time to do that.

So the main goal is to gain knowledge of practical skills, which is way more important than just learning the facts that are mentioned in the books, because a piece of paper never decides your future; so if you want to be smart, learn both the things and mainly focus on practicality.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you mostly agree that education gives too much attention to facts and should develop practical skills. You support this with the comparison between your cousins, including the contrast between one cousin’s business and the other’s employment. This is relevant, but the example is not fully explained as evidence about what schools and universities teach; it mainly compares their careers and backgrounds. The point that students should “learn both” also introduces a qualification that could be developed more clearly. To strengthen the response, explain how practical learning could be incorporated at different educational levels and give a specific example, such as project work or workplace training. Some ideas are therefore more fully addressed than others.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has an overall progression from introducing your view, to giving an example, and then drawing a conclusion. The cousin comparison gives the central paragraph a clear focus, and phrases such as “However” and “So the main goal” help signal relationships between ideas. However, the opening ends with the incomplete phrase “I mostly agree with this,” and the main paragraph contains several points in one long block, making the argument harder to follow. The repeated references to “my cousin” also make it less clear at times which person is being discussed. Use separate paragraphs for the introduction, each main point, and the conclusion, and refer to the cousins consistently as “the science graduate” and “the commerce graduate.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to communicate your main argument, including relevant terms such as “practical skills,” “practical knowledge,” and “social media marketing business.” There are also attempts to express more specific ideas, such as “bookish knowledge.” However, some choices are informal or imprecise for an academic essay: “the main hype” does not clearly express the key difference, and “something extraordinary activities” is awkward. Repetition of “practical” and “knowledge” also limits the range. Choose more precise collocations and vary the wording—for example, discuss “applied learning” or “hands-on experience.” This would make the argument sound more natural and exact while preserving the clear meaning of most of your vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, including conditional structures such as “if a person is only good at studies … then it’s a waste of education” and a contrast introduced by “while.” These help you explain relationships between ideas, and the overall meaning is generally understandable. Some grammatical and punctuation errors remain, however. The opening sentence ends with “I mostly agree with this” without completing the thought, and the long sentence beginning “For Instance” joins several ideas with commas and semicolons in a way that is difficult to control. Capitalisation after full stops is also inconsistent, as in “he also runs.” Break long sentences into shorter units, complete each sentence, and check punctuation and sentence boundaries during revision.

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