Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-19
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)
Nowadays, people in many countries live longer than before. Some people think that an aging population causes problems for governments, while others think it has some benefits. In my opinion, there are both advantages and disadvantages, but the disadvantages are quite serious.
There are some benefits of having more elderly people. First, old people have a lot of experience and knowledge. They can teach young people many useful things about life and work. Second, many elderly people can help their families. For example, they can look after their grandchildren when their children are working. This can help parents save time and money.
However, an aging population also creates some problems. The government needs to spend more money on hospitals and healthcare because older people usually need more medical care. Also, there are fewer young workers when there are many old people. This can cause a shortage of workers and reduce the amount of tax money for the government. In addition, young people may have to pay more taxes to support pensions and healthcare for elderly people.
In conclusion, an aging population has some advantages, especially the experience and help of older people. However, I think the disadvantages, such as higher healthcare costs and fewer workers, are more important.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The student addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of an aging population and clearly states a position. The ideas presented are relevant, such as the value of older people's experience and the economic strain on healthcare and workforce shortages. However, the response falls short of the minimum word count requirement, containing only 208 words instead of the required 250. This results in under-developed ideas and an incomplete exploration of the prompt, which prevents the essay from achieving a higher band score under Task Achievement.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The response demonstrates a clear overall progression and is organized into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, body paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'First', 'Second', 'However', and 'In addition' are used to structure the text, though they are somewhat mechanical. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas. While the flow of ideas is easy to follow, the limited overall length restricts the complexity of the organizational structure.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, with terms like 'aging population', 'shortage of workers', and 'healthcare costs'. However, the vocabulary is largely repetitive and lacks the sophistication or flexibility characteristic of higher bands. There are attempts at less common phrasing, but word choices remain simple and general rather than precise. Spelling and word formation are generally accurate throughout the response, ensuring that communication is never impeded by lexical limitations.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and subordinate structures reasonably well (e.g., 'when their children are working' and 'because older people usually need more medical care'). There are several error-free sentences, and grammatical control is generally good with no major errors that impede communication. Punctuation is used correctly. However, the range of grammatical structures remains somewhat limited due to the short length of the text, preventing it from reaching a Band 7.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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