Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-12

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)

People are living longer than ever before in many areas of the world, most importantly in developed countries. There are different pros and cons of elderly people in any society. I believe that old people have less energy and they contribute less in the prosperity of any society. In this way, we can say that work force of a country decreases. Youth of any country plays an important role in its development. They could contribute more towards technology, arts and governance. On the contrary, old people are less aligned towards more work. Furthermore, old people are more sensitive, they create less chaos and follow the rules. In this way, we can say that old people can contribute more towards the peaceful and calmful environment of the society. They might consume less resources which can also be helpful for the economy of a society but to have an opinion that their advantages can overweight the youth is wrong according to my perception. They can create a better and peaceful society but youth have an edge over them. Moreover, we have seen a population decline in Japan and they are more welcoming towards international immigrants and skilled people like other European countries facing the very same problem. Youth could be the backbone of any society in many walks of life as compared to the elderly people. So, in a nutshell, we can say that old people can also be assets instead of liability because of their experience but youth can be more fruitful in this regard.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the pros and cons of an aging population and takes a clear position that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For instance, the point about elderly people following rules and being sensitive is mentioned, but it lacks deep expansion with concrete examples. The comparison between youth and the elderly is maintained throughout, satisfying the prompt's requirement to weigh the two sides, but a more thorough exploration of economic impacts would elevate the task response. Overall, it fulfills the basic requirements of the task, earning a solid Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay demonstrates a basic overall coherence, but the paragraphing is a major structural flaw. The entire response is written as a single, massive block of text without logical breaks for introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. While basic cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'On the contrary', and 'So, in a nutshell' are used to connect ideas, the lack of paragraphing severely hinders the logical progression and organization of the essay. Referencing is mostly clear, but the absence of visual separation between distinct points keeps the score at Band 5.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'prosperity', 'work force', 'backbone', and 'liability'. However, there are instances of imprecise word choice and unnatural collocations, such as 'calmful environment' (instead of 'calm environment') and saying that advantages 'overweight' the youth (instead of 'outweigh'). Spelling and word formation are generally accurate, but the lack of more sophisticated uncommon lexical items prevents the score from reaching a higher band. Vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the main message, meriting a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing conditionals and relative clauses reasonably well (e.g., 'People are living longer than ever before...', 'Youth of any country plays an important role...'). There are some grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as 'old people have less energy and they contribute less in the prosperity' (should be 'to the prosperity') and 'old people are less aligned towards more work'. Punctuation is generally acceptable, and while errors occur, they rarely impede overall communication. This performance aligns well with the Band 6 descriptor.

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

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