Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-24

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)

At present people has more lifetime compared with the past. It is commonly argued that some individuals believe older generations makes issues for the governments. While other believe that there are a number of benefits if society has older people. In my opinion, I think the advantages of having older generations will be outweigh the disadvantages.

On the one hand, there are a number of advantages of having older generations in our society. First of all, older generations has more real life experience and knowledge rather than the upcoming generations. For instance, older generations lead a significant number of their age in the earth and they has the problrm solving and dicision making skills. As a result, the society will be more perfect and complete with the older generation. In addition, older generation has great leadership skills. So, if they lead our country and society the economy and nation will be more developed rather than past.

On the other hand, having older generations has some disadvantages for government and society. To begin with, in this modern and globalised world everything based on computer and smartphones. But the older generations has less experience on these. As a result, the government and society will be face some issues on it. Furthermore, older generations has various type of health issues in their late life. As a result, government and society has to be spend more money on their health issues.

In conclusion, although having older generations has some disadvantages for society and government but there are a huge number of advantages of them. So, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both sides of the question and state a clear position: you believe the advantages of an aging population outweigh the disadvantages. The points about older people’s experience and knowledge, alongside healthcare costs and limited familiarity with technology, are relevant. However, some ideas are asserted rather than explained. For example, the claim that older people’s leadership would make the economy and nation “more developed” needs a specific explanation or example. The technology point is also broad: clarify which services or government processes might be affected and why. Your conclusion restates your view, but the comparison of the benefits and costs could be more explicit. Developing these points with concrete support would make the response more complete and persuasive.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. This makes your line of argument easy to follow, and signposts such as “On the one hand,” “Furthermore,” and “In conclusion” help readers recognise the stages. The progression within paragraphs is generally understandable, with examples or consequences following the main points. To make the organisation more fluent, reduce reliance on formulaic transitions such as repeated “As a result” and “So,” and connect ideas more precisely. For instance, the link between older people’s experience and a “more perfect and complete” society is not fully explained. Clearer referencing and more specific links between claims would add flexibility to the otherwise sound structure.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “aging population,” “leadership skills,” “globalised,” and “health issues.” However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, which sometimes makes the meaning less natural. Phrases such as “more lifetime,” “lead a significant number of their age in the earth,” and “a huge number of advantages of them” are difficult to interpret precisely. There are also spelling errors, including “problrm” and “dicision.” Aim to use familiar vocabulary accurately before attempting more ambitious expressions, and learn common combinations such as “life expectancy,” “gain experience,” and “place pressure on public healthcare.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a contrast structure beginning “although” and clauses introduced by “if” and “as a result.” However, control of sentence forms is uneven, and errors in agreement, verb forms, and sentence construction recur. Examples include “people has,” “older generations makes,” and “the government and society will be face.” The final sentence also needs a corrected structure: “although … but” should not be used together in this way. These errors can make some sentences difficult to process, even though your overall meaning is usually recoverable. Practise subject–verb agreement and the forms that follow modal verbs, then check each sentence for a clear subject and correctly formed verb.

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