Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Ageing is a beautiful phase of life. People in different countries are now living longer than before. They have different opinions about ageing, as some consider it a problem while other people think old people are beneficial for society. I think the advantages of having an ageing population outweigh the disadvantages because they support society.

Elderly people are much more civilised than younger people. They have spent a lot of time with people and have seen their changing personalities as well, so they get more familiar with society. For example, older people educate others to be more disciplined and well-mannered. They utilise their experience and knowledge to guide people on how to face difficulties in life, how to get stronger, and develop their personality to become more resilient. Ageing people are better behaved because they follow the rules, do not get involved in any suspicious or unethical activities, and educate people about their religion as well.

However, there are some disadvantages for the government to have a larger elderly population in the country. When people start getting older, they become very sluggish and impatient; their health also gets affected, and because of that they cannot perform their work properly, which leads to their retirement, so the government has to support them with a pension, and due to which they become overburdened.

In short, the advantages of having more older population has surpass the disadvantages. The emotional support of these people helps individuals to survive in society, preparing themselves to become better human beings.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of an aging population, and clearly states a position in the introduction that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Ideas are presented, such as the moral and emotional support elderly people provide versus the burden of pensions and healthcare on governments. However, the development of ideas tends to rely on unsupported generalizations rather than concrete examples or specific details. For instance, the claim that older people are 'much more civilized than younger people' is broad and lacks proper substantiation. While the task is adequately addressed to fulfill the basic requirements, the arguments remain somewhat underdeveloped and lack depth, aligning best with Band 6 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a recognizable introduction, body paragraphs addressing each side of the argument, and a brief conclusion. Paragraphing is utilized to separate main ideas, such as grouping the benefits in the second paragraph and the drawbacks in the third. However, cohesion within sentences and between paragraphs is sometimes mechanical or repetitive, utilizing basic cohesive phrases like 'For example,' and 'However,' without sophisticated linking. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in the concluding sentence where pronoun reference is slightly confused ('more older population has surpass'). Logical progression is evident, but the management of cohesive devices places the response firmly within the Band 6 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common words and phrases such as 'civilised,' 'resilient,' 'sluggish,' and 'overburdened.' However, there are notable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and phrasing throughout the text. For example, 'ageing people' sounds unnatural compared to 'the elderly' or 'older adults,' and 'more older population has surpass' contains both a comparative error and a subject-verb agreement error. Vocabulary usage is generally sufficient to convey the core meaning, but frequent lexical inaccuracies and occasional spelling or form errors prevent the response from achieving a higher band, making Band 5.0 or 6.0 appropriate. Due to the adequacy of communication despite errors, a 6.0 is awarded.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and subordinate structures like 'When people start getting older, they become very sluggish...'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several structural and punctuation errors, such as run-on sentences ('Ageing people are better behaved because they follow the rules, do not get involved in any suspicious or unethical activities, and educate people about their religion as well') and tense or agreement errors ('more older population has surpass'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to detract from fluency, placing the grammatical performance at a solid Band 6 level.

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

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