Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-27

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)

It is often debated whether goverments had problems for having elderly people or it has more benefits for having them. As far as I am concerned, I beleive that advantages of having an aging population outweigh the disadvantages.

To begin with, there are numerous benefits of having aging population due to several reasons. One of the prominent reasons is a lot of experience. To explain it, the aged people have more experience which helps in various ways like how to handle the situations such as protest related and disasters which gives us to sense of preparing in different situations. Similarly, promote tradition through elder people is another major factor. For instance, some elder people are experts in designing, drawing, some are popular in create songs and poems which helps to promote past lifestyles and identity of our country which helps in the protection of our traditions as well as culture. Furthermore, it encourages tourists to visiting here. In addition, guiding by elder people gives benefits. Elaborating it, aging people are more responsible then yougesters so guidence by the elderly people for the development progress creates more srong and sustainable development.

On the other hand, there are few drawbacks of having elder people. Health issues is one of the main reason of it. To clarify it, when individuals are getting older they faced many health issues which is burden for the government because they take responsibility for their residents. Likewise, another aspect is not have ability to doing physical work. To explain it , elder people not doing work.

To sum up, a lot of experience, helps to promoting tradition and guidence through aging people are the merits and there are few demerits such as health issues and not doing work.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

Your position is clear in the introduction: you believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and the conclusion repeats this overall view. You identify relevant benefits, including older people’s experience, their role in preserving traditions, and their guidance, as well as drawbacks involving health costs and reduced capacity for physical work. However, the response only partially answers the comparison in the question: it lists points but does not explain how the benefits outweigh the costs or assess their relative importance. Several ideas are also unclear or briefly supported, such as the link between cultural traditions and tourism, and the claim that elderly people guide sustainable development. Develop fewer points with specific explanations or examples, and directly compare their significance.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, a paragraph on advantages, a paragraph on disadvantages, and a conclusion. Signposting such as “To begin with,” “On the other hand,” and “To sum up” helps readers follow the broad direction. However, progression within paragraphs is uneven: the advantages paragraph moves quickly from experience to tradition, tourism, and guidance without clearly showing how each point connects to the main argument. Linking phrases such as “To explain it” and “Elaborating it” are repeated and sometimes do not clarify the relationship between ideas. The conclusion summarises the points but does not bring them together into a clear comparison. Group related ideas and use more precise referencing and transitions to make the argument flow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt topic-related vocabulary, including “aging population,” “tradition,” “sustainable development,” and “health issues,” and some choices communicate relevant ideas. There is also an effort to use less common expressions such as “promote past lifestyles and identity.” However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation, word-form, and spelling errors make parts difficult to understand. Examples include “promote tradition through elder people,” “encourages tourists to visiting here,” “guidence,” and “more srong.” Some phrases, such as “elder people not doing work,” are too vague to express the intended point precisely. Build accuracy with common collocations and choose specific terms—for example, explain whether older people contribute through mentoring, cultural preservation, or paid work.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use both simple statements and attempts at longer, complex sentences, including clauses introduced by “which” and “when.” This shows an effort to vary sentence structure. However, control is inconsistent, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to follow. For example, “the aged people have more experience which helps in various ways like how to handle the situations” has an unclear clause structure, while “when individuals are getting older they faced many health issues” shifts tense incorrectly. There are also problems with agreement and sentence construction, as in “Health issues is one of the main reason” and “elder people not doing work.” Practise forming complete clauses, maintaining consistent tense, and checking subject–verb agreement; these changes would make your ideas much clearer.

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