Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-08-24

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In many countries, people are now living longer than ever before. Some people say an aging population creates problems for governments. Other people think there are benefits if society has more elderly people.

To what extent do the advantages of having an aging population outweigh the disadvantages?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 6.0)

In numerous countries, people have longer life span than past. Some people argue that the older people are problematic for government, while others think that they are beneficial for society. An aging population has significant advantages for the society such as sharing life experience and family support, which can outweigh the disadvantages for society such as employment issues and healthcare costs.

The advantages of having an aging population are sharing their life experience and providing family support. To begin with, elderly people spend their lives by experiencing different challenges such as financial issues, family disputes and other social problems. Moreover, youngsters can take advices for various aspects of life from them, which can help young people to solve different issues and become resilient like elders. Additionally, nowadays, people have busy schedules because of this they cannot take care of their family properly, thus elders can support them in such circumstances. For instance, most of the children are raised by their grandparents because of their working parents. Therefore, senior citizens are very supportive in different situations.

There are some disadvantages of having an aging population for society such as employment problems and healthcare costs. Furthermore, most of the old age people are occupying the significant positions in different professions, which is increasing the employment rate in youngsters. In addition, elder people suffer with different health issues in their age, which produce a healthcare funds pressure on family and they can face financial issues. However, these issues can be resolved by giving job's flexibility to older people according to their strength, which can increase vacancies for young people. Government should provide free healthcare for elders which can reduce the load on their families.

In conclusion, having an elderly population is beneficial in terms of teaching life lessons and family siwhich can outweigh the disadvantages such as healthcare cost's and job vacancy's issues.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, providing a clear position that the advantages of an aging population outweigh the disadvantages. The ideas are relevant and generally well-developed, such as the discussion on grandparents providing childcare and the transfer of life experience. However, the development of the disadvantages is slightly less balanced; for instance, the claim that elderly people occupy significant positions and thus increase unemployment among the youth is a somewhat underdeveloped and debatable point. Overall, the response maintains a consistent focus on the task throughout, and the conclusion effectively summarizes the main arguments presented in the body paragraphs.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a central theme. Cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'Moreover', 'Additionally', and 'In conclusion' are used to guide the reader through the argument. However, there are instances where the flow is slightly mechanical or the referencing is imprecise, such as the phrase 'because of this they cannot take care of their family properly'. Additionally, the final sentence contains a typographical error ('siwhich') and awkward phrasing, which slightly disrupts the cohesion of the concluding statement. Despite these minor issues, the progression of ideas remains clear throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'resilient' and 'circumstances'. However, there are several instances of inaccurate word choice and collocation, such as 'take advices' (advice is uncountable), 'old age people' (should be 'elderly people'), and 'produce a healthcare funds pressure'. Furthermore, there are errors in pluralization and possessives, such as 'job's flexibility' and 'vacancy's issues'. These errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the precision and sophistication of the lexical range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the writer attempts complex sentences, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly regarding articles ('the society', 'the older people'), subject-verb agreement, and pluralization. For example, 'people have longer life span than past' lacks necessary articles and prepositions. Punctuation errors, such as the misuse of apostrophes in 'job's' and 'vacancy's', are also present. While these errors are noticeable and occur throughout the text, they rarely impede the reader's understanding of the intended meaning. A greater focus on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy would significantly improve the score.

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