Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-17
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)
In this modern worls, there is an ongoing argument regarding people living loner than ever, where few people say that it creates problem for governments. While other argue that having elderly people in society is beneficial. I strongly believe that the presence of older is helpful. The same will be discussed in the subsequent paragraphs.
There are many benifits of elderly people living in a society. First and foremost, older people are having more experience and can help society with it. This help in guiding young people who are not aware of their responsibilities and makes mistakes.Moreover, there guidence help them to correct their mistakes and make sures that they donot commit same mistakes again. For instance, grandfather tecahing life lesson to nephew in a form of stories.
To add further, in thi fast-pase world people are busy in doing their jobs. At this phase elderly people can provide valuable support to younger family members.Furthermore, grandparents may help in taking care of child and in household responsibities while their adult children are at work. As a result, younger parents have more time and flexibility to concentrate on their careers without having to rely entirely on expensive childcare services. For example, working parents who live with their elderly parents may be able to leave their children with their grandparents while they are at work, which can reduce childcare expenses and make it easier for them to maintain full-time employment.
On the other hand, if the people are living longer than before put burden on the governmnet. This is because, government has to spend more on pension, health and social welfare for these elderly people. In addition, this may reduce the budget of other sectors like education, infrastructure and public services. To exemplify, countries with a large elderly population may need to increase healthcare and pension spending, placing pressure on taxpayers.
To conclude, the benefits of people living longer are that their experience can help the next generation and they support in family responsibities. However, it impacts on government to spend more money on their pensions rather than other. Therefore, the advantages of having an aging population outweigh the disadvantages
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The student addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of an aging population, and clearly states a position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Ideas are relevant, such as the experiential wisdom of older generations, childcare support, and the financial burden on governments. However, some ideas lack deep extension or rely on very simple examples, such as "grandfather tecahing life lesson to nephew". This places the response comfortably at Band 6, as it addresses all parts and presents a clear position, though some points remain slightly under-developed.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is arranged coherently with clear paragraphing, moving from an introduction to body paragraphs covering benefits, then drawbacks, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed, such as "First and foremost", "Moreover", "To add further", and "On the other hand". However, some referencing is slightly faulty or mechanical, and certain transitions feel abrupt. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, maintaining a logical flow throughout the essay, which justifies a Band 6 score.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting some less common words and phrases like "ongoing argument", "subsequent paragraphs", and "childcare expenses". However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, such as "worls" instead of world, "loner" instead of longer, "benifits" instead of benefits, "guidence" instead of guidance, and "thi fast-pase world" instead of this fast-paced world. These errors indicate a Band 5 level in lexical resource, as noticeable errors cause some difficulty and distraction for the reader.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures like relative clauses and conditional-like framing. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors such as subject-verb agreement issues ("older people are having more experience", "their guidence help"), tense misuse ("people are busy in doing"), and missing articles or pluralisation errors ("put burden on the governmnet"). While communication is not severely impeded, these frequent errors across simple and complex structures point towards a Band 5 level of grammatical accuracy.
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