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 expectancy in different countries across the world is on higher side than before. Ageing population has advantages as well as disadvantages like they can increase the burden on government and make a 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 having their age 100 or more. This trend is rising continousily and government has to spend lot of funds to provide services like healthcare,gyms and sports,while in return almost no contribution from their side in the growth of country.

On the other hand, senior citizens have experience of working in different sectors,running the system and obviously they can teach the ethics 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 accordinglly,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 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task and takes a clear position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, supported by relevant examples such as Japan's demographic shift and the capabilities of older leaders. Ideas are extended, though some points, such as the economic burden mentioned in the second paragraph, could have been more fully developed. For instance, the reference to Japan provides a good specific instance, but the reasoning regarding economic contributions remains somewhat generalised. Nevertheless, the position is well-maintained throughout the essay, fulfilling the core requirements of Task Achievement at a Band 6.5 to 7.0 level. Overall, it covers the prompts adequately with a discernible viewpoint.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the argument into an introduction, body paragraphs addressing disadvantages and advantages, and a conclusion. However, paragraphing is somewhat problematic; the introductory paragraph is very fragmented and lacks clear linking to the main body. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'While on the other hand' and 'For example', but referencing is occasionally loose (e.g. 'they can increase the burden'). Progression is discernible, yet the flow between sentences and paragraphs is occasionally disrupted by awkward transitions and punctuation errors, placing this performance firmly in the Band 6 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'demographic', 'fragile society', and 'mortality rate' (though spelled as 'mortility' in the text). There are several noticeable word-choice and collocation errors, such as 'on higher side than before', 'common diseases like Flu', and 'well organised skills'. Spelling errors like 'continousily' and 'goverment' also occur. While these errors do not severely impede communication, they restrict the lexical score to a Band 6.0, as precision and control are inconsistent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some ambitious structures like concessive clauses ('While on the other hand...'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in articles, prepositions, subject-verb agreement, and punctuation. Examples include 'A person is not contributing in the growth of country, eventually a burden', 'experience of working', and comma splices throughout the text. These errors require some effort from the reader to parse meaning, which aligns with the descriptors for Band 5.5, where frequent errors in complex structures persist.

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