Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-24

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)

Schools and universities have followed theoratical approach to teach students. Some people say that students are spending excessive amount of time learning theories and facts rather than learning practical skills. I agree with the given statement. I believe that theoratical information should be shared until certain age, and once individual have developed cognitive and interpersonal skills, they should be explain practical skills.

To begin, schools in the primary level often teach about basic concepts such as addition, substractions and multiplication, whereas secondary school used to arrange extra classes of laboratory where individual can understand the concept of chemistry and physics. For instance, students are being asked to mix different substances to see the new formation. Practical knowledge like this would be helpful but very limited number of school used to have such facilities.

On the other hand, some schools do not have facilities and students are being asked to learn concept theoratically. This can have detrimental impacts on students. Pupils who are studying hard in a hope that the study will help them to get a job in the future may fail due to lack of practical skills. Students at university used to learn mathemetical concepts such as integration and derivation, although many of them would never understand the reasons behind this concept becuase they have never been taught how to use such calculation in real life.

To sump up, although practical skills have been taught in some schools, time period spent in laboratory were very limited. Schools and universities should develop a course and facilities which could actually help them to improve skills.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you agree that education gives too much attention to theory and not enough to practical learning. You address primary, secondary and university education, and the examples of laboratory experiments and mathematical concepts help keep the response relevant. The discussion of limited school facilities also gives a reason for the imbalance. However, some points are more developed than others. The opening claim that theory should be taught only until a certain age is not explained, and the university example does not show clearly how practical teaching could improve students’ learning. Develop these ideas with specific consequences or examples, and explain more directly why practical skills deserve greater emphasis across all levels of education.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs presenting contrasting aspects of the issue, and a conclusion. Linking phrases such as “To begin,” “On the other hand” and “To sum up” make the stages easy to follow. The ideas generally progress from school examples to the consequences of limited practical teaching. However, some connections are not fully clear. The first body paragraph describes practical lessons, but its relationship to your argument about insufficient practical education could be stated more explicitly. The contrast introduced by “On the other hand” is also somewhat mechanical, since the paragraph continues the same general argument. Use more precise links between claims and examples, and make each paragraph’s central point explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of topic-related vocabulary, including “practical skills,” “laboratory,” “detrimental impacts” and “cognitive and interpersonal skills.” These choices help communicate the subject and show attempts to use more formal language. However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, including “theoratical,” “substractions,” “theoratically” and “mathemetical.” Some phrases are also unnatural or imprecise, such as “new formation” and “time period spent in laboratory.” These do not prevent the reader from understanding the main ideas, but they reduce precision and naturalness. Check spelling carefully and learn common academic collocations, such as “theoretical approach,” “chemical reaction” and “time spent in the laboratory.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a contrast with “whereas” and a subordinate clause beginning “although.” Most of the argument remains understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “once individual have developed” needs an article and subject–verb agreement, while “they should be explain practical skills” has an incorrect verb construction. There are also tense and agreement problems in “secondary school used to arrange” and “many of them would never understand.” These errors sometimes make relationships between ideas less clear. Practise accurate articles, plural subjects and verb forms, and revise sentences aloud to check that each clause has a complete, correctly formed verb. Greater control of these patterns would make your varied sentence structures more effective.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.