Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-24

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 expentency has increased significanty in my part of the world, leading to a rise in the proportion of elderly people.while an aging population can create some challenges for government. I believe that elderly people have considerable amount of knowledge and skills for share with other and its advntages outweight the disadvantages.

To begin with, one major drawback is that, growing numbers of aging popution put pressure of public services Older individuuals are more likely to require healthcare and regular medical treatment , as a result, government need to spend more money on hospital, medicines and pension. Additionally, if the number of ritired people increased, there may be fewer working age individuals who support them form there wages. For example, this can create financial pressure on young generations and government.

On the other hand, having more elderly persons also bring several vital benefits. Firstly, older people have valuable experience and knowledge that can be shared with younger generations. For instance, grandparents thought there grandchildrens useful life skills, different traditions and gain their knowledge. Secondly, they are active after retairment and can contribute to society throughtout part time work and social work. For eample, elderly people can work in a community projects, such as planting tress in public places and helping maintain green spaces.

In conclusion, although an agong popultion can increase healthcare and pesion cost, but it is not isgnificiant. From my perespective, elderly individuals have alot of knowlledge for the past and they contribute to society giving their skills and also working in different kinds of projects which is beneficial for environment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the problems and benefits of an aging population and presenting a clear position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Ideas are extended with relevant examples, such as grandparents sharing life skills with grandchildren and elderly individuals participating in community projects like planting trees. However, some arguments lack deeper elaboration, and there are occasional over-generalizations in the supporting points. For instance, the discussion on healthcare costs and pension pressures is relevant but somewhat generalized. Overall, the task is covered well with a clear overall stance, fitting comfortably into the Band 6.5 to 7.0 range, where Band 7 is achieved through a clear position and well-supported ideas throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response is arranged logically with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing both sides of the argument, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed to structure the text, such as 'To begin with', 'Additionally', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion'. However, paragraphing and referencing show some mechanical traits and minor lapses. For example, the punctuation and linking in the introduction ('population can create some challenges for government. I believe...') disrupt the natural flow. Furthermore, referencing is occasionally slightly ambiguous. Despite these minor issues, there is a clear progression of ideas throughout the response, justifying a solid Band 6.0 performance.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range suitable for the task, attempting less common lexical items such as 'proportion of elderly people', 'healthcare', and 'community projects'. However, there are numerous spelling errors and inaccurate word choices throughout the text, including 'expentency' (expectancy), 'significanty' (significantly), 'popution' (population), 'individuuals' (individuals), 'ritired' (retired), 'retairment' (retirement), 'throughtout' (throughout), 'agong' (aging), 'popultion' (population), 'pesion' (pension), 'isgnificiant' (significant), 'perespective' (perspective), and 'alot' (a lot). While communication is not severely impeded, these frequent spelling and morphological errors prevent the lexical score from reaching Band 6.0, as they impact control over less common items.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures such as 'One major drawback is that, growing numbers of aging popution put pressure of public services' and 'if the number of ritired people increased, there may be fewer working age individuals'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak. There are frequent errors in verb forms, prepositions, articles, and punctuation, such as 'for share' (to share), 'its advntages outweight' (its advantages outweigh), 'pressure of' (pressure on), 'thought there grandchildrens' (taught their grandchildren), and comma splices or missing full stops. These errors require some effort from the reader to untangle, which places the response firmly at Band 5.0 due to frequent grammatical inaccuracies.

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