Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-01

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 5.5)

8)

In different countries, individuals are surving more years than before. Some individuals said that older citizens creates issues for the government whereas others believe there are certain advantages of society of elderly residents living in the society. In my opinion, the benefits of having elderly residents outweigh the disadvantages of it.

There are some negative issues which could be develop by older generation. The government have to invest more funds for organizations contributing to old age home. Moreover, elder people of age above 55 years get some money as pension from the gove concerned authories of the country which is sufficent for their living expense. For instance, In Nepal, older citizens get more than five thousand rupees as pension monthly.

However, elder people contributes for the better and development of the country in many ways such as by teaching young generation about culturals, traditions, languages, and thus helps to protect religions, heritages, old dresses customs and folk songs. They furthermore, they maintain unity in the community by helping new teenagers to organize traditional programs. In Nepal, new ge people are adapting western style and tradition, and forgetting about their own so, the their grandparents teaches them about in various ways such as, telling old stories myth of their time. This would help

to preserve our nationality , our origin, and customs .

In conclusion, there might have some minor issues for the government because of elders but the society and the young people who are living in it are benefited by in many condition not only as society as well as personally. For this reason, I believe the importance of having older people is more .

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the problems and benefits of an aging population, maintaining a clear position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. The discussion on government spending is brief, and the explanation of cultural preservation, while relevant, lacks depth. The argument could be strengthened by providing more sophisticated reasoning regarding the economic or social contributions of the elderly beyond cultural transmission. The response covers all parts of the task, but the ideas are not fully extended, placing it in the Band 6 category.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Moreover', 'However', and 'In conclusion', though some transitions feel mechanical or are used incorrectly, such as the repetitive 'They furthermore, they maintain'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, particularly in the final paragraph where the connection between the elderly and societal benefits is somewhat vague. While the progression of ideas is generally coherent, the lack of sophisticated linking and occasional awkward phrasing in transitions prevents a higher score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. There are several instances of awkward word choices, such as 'surving more years' instead of 'living longer' and 'gove concerned authories'. The student attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'pension' and 'cultural heritage', but the overall lexical range is limited and repetitive. Some errors, such as 'culturals' and 'myth of their time', slightly impede the flow of ideas, though the meaning remains clear throughout the essay.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay relies heavily on simple sentence structures. While there are attempts at complex sentences, they are often marred by grammatical errors, such as 'Some individuals said that older citizens creates issues' (subject-verb agreement) and 'there might have some minor issues' (incorrect verb usage). Punctuation is inconsistent, and there are frequent errors in articles and pluralization, such as 'elder people' instead of 'the elderly' or 'older people'. These errors are frequent enough to cause some difficulty for the reader, although they do not completely obscure the intended meaning.

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

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