Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-22

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)

Life expentancy in different countries across the world is on higher side than before. Longer age has advantages as well as disadvantages like ageing population can increase the burden on goverment and they can create fragile society. While on the other hand it has significant benefits too. Senior citizens of a country have much of experience, younger generation lacks this.

Revolution in modern science improved healthcare segment as deadly  diseases are now just a common diseases like Flu. It creates a society with low mortility rate, which leads to different disadvantages for government. A person is not contributing in the growth of country,eventually a burden on the system. In recent time Japan is facing a similar situation, their percentage of people ageing above 60 is around 35% and more than 0.1 million individuals, whose age number is 100 or more. This trend is rising continously and goverment has to spend lot of funds to provide services like healthcare,gyms and sports,while in return almost no contribution from their side.

On the other hand, senior citizens have experience of working in different sectors,running the system and obviously they can teach the inethics to younger generation. In today world they proved themselves, specifically in goverment side, most of the countries have their Prime ministers or presidents are old. They can deal the situation convenientily because they have experience and well organised skills to react in any emergency situation. For example President of US, Donald Trump is 80 years old now and still actively running his government.

I think experience is only thing which outweigh all the disadvantages of Ageing population. Their experience can be used to make a generation with different skills.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of an aging population, and the writer takes a clear position in the introduction and conclusion that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Ideas are extended with examples, such as mentioning Japan's demographic situation and referencing political figures. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or general, such as the claim that older people teach 'inethics' (likely meaning ethics) to the younger generation, and the support tends to rely on assertion rather than deep elaboration. Nevertheless, all parts of the task are addressed, and a clear stance is maintained throughout, fitting well within the criteria for Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing disadvantages and advantages, and a concluding thought. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty, with abrupt transitions between sentences and paragraphs (e.g., 'While on the other hand it has significant benefits too' followed immediately by a new point without smooth integration). Referencing is occasionally unclear, and logical progression is disrupted by sentence-level cohesion issues. Overall, the organizational structure meets the requirements for a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'demographic', 'mortality rate', and 'contribution'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'expentancy' instead of expectancy, 'goverment' instead of government, 'continously' instead of continuously, and 'convenientily' instead of conveniently. The phrase 'inethics' appears to be a misuse of vocabulary. While these errors do not severely impede communication, they reflect a lack of precision, placing the lexical performance solidly at Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as concessive clauses ('While on the other hand it has significant benefits too') and relative clauses. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation slips throughout the response. Examples include missing articles ('on higher side', 'burden on system'), subject-verb agreement issues ('most of the countries have their Prime ministers or presidents are old'), and awkward phrasing ('whose age number is 100 or more'). These errors occasionally cause difficulty for the reader and demonstrate a lack of consistent control over complex structures, corresponding to a Band 5.0.

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

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