Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-18
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)
It is undeniable that breakthrough in medical filed has increased life expactancy of human-beings. So that, some individuals urge that edlerly people creats financial burden for the governments. While other believe that aging population have positive impact on overall well-being of community. I firmly believe that, advantages of older people are far more than disadvantages, I will discuss both this in upcoming paragraphs, before reaching a conclusion.
On the one hand, as the number of older people increases, a set of individual belive that it is a passive use of thier tax amount. First of all, require enormous amount of money regarding to provide pentions to senior citizen, after that, to look after them, high-defined medical practicioner as well as equpiments needed for overall well-being. Insted of all of these circumstance they urge officials to invest heavily on other essential social issues such as better infrastructure, basic education, poverty alleviateion.
On the other hand, edler people play a pivotal role in society. The primary benefit of having them is that they have adequate amount of experiences about certain circumstances. For example, in some culture to follow traditional rituals , young ones as well as adults often lack knowldege and may face mental stress. Furthermore, edler people often taught valuable like skills such as problem-solving, and critical thinking, these are less likely in non-senior citizens, which is benefical for them to follow thier foot-prints and live adequate living condition.
In conclusion, although desnly populated aging citizen generates financial inequalities to governments and unneccessry use of public funding, thier valuable experience as well as highly roten life skills often help ones to live better and stable life style which is benefical for both citizens as well as nation.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The student addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the problems and benefits associated with an aging population and clearly states a personal position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Ideas are extended, such as mentioning the financial strain on governments and the social value of elderly experience. However, some arguments lack full development and generalisations are somewhat broad, for instance, the assertion that seniors always pass on critical thinking without further elaboration. Despite these minor limitations, the main prompt requirements are satisfactorily met, earning a Band 6.5.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response is organized into logical paragraphs, including an introduction, two body paragraphs representing opposing views, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed to signal transitions, such as 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical, as seen in awkward transitional phrases like 'Insted of all of these circumstance' and run-on structures. Paragraphing is present and appropriate, but overall flow is occasionally disrupted by awkward grammatical ties and phrasing. These features align closely with the Band 6 descriptor.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student attempts a range of vocabulary suitable for the topic, including terms like 'financial burden', 'pivotal role', and 'traditional rituals'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, such as 'filed' instead of field, 'expactancy', 'edlerly', 'creats', 'pentions', 'Insted', 'desnly', and 'unneccessry'. These errors indicate an adequate range for the task with noticeable inaccuracies in spelling and collocation, though communication is generally maintained. This performance corresponds to a Band 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating subordinate clauses and introductory phrases. However, frequent grammatical errors and punctuation lapses are present throughout the essay, including fragment sentences ('So that...'), subject-verb agreement issues ('aging population have', 'edler people often taught'), and awkward phrasing ('will discuss both this in upcoming paragraphs'). While these errors do not completely obscure the intended meaning, they occur with high frequency and impede smooth reading, placing the response firmly at Band 5.0.
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.