Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-28

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)

The longivity of people are increasing in many countries around the world. There is a debate on the fact that if having aged people in a society is a blessing or a problem for governments. I believe, the advantages or disadvantages of having an aging population varies considering the location.

There are a lot of benefits of having aged people around. As they have better knowledge and experience about life, they understand life better. However, they can be a good company for the childrens. Children often learn a lot about the previous history and a lot of stories from elderly people which helps them to grow mentally. For example, in a country like Bangladesh or India, elderly people often takecare their grandchilds, which is a great help for their parents who often work fulltime. Moreover, aged people like the company of the childrens most of the time, and that's why they enjoy taking care and spending time with childrens.

There are also a good number of disadvantages of keeping old people nearby. They often fall sick. They need help for daily life activities. When they are in the last stages of their life, the medical expenses are more. They often need 24/7 assistance, in many cases a nurse is needed to be appointed to take of them. Sometimes, aged people become lonely and they can't even seek help from anyone. For example, in a country like Japan, sometimes aged people die in their apartment and no one can even trace it before it's too late. Because, they are very alone in their last stage of life. Sometimes government has to take steps to take care of them. In some countries, government allot a portion of budget to take care of elderly people. For that reason, some important areas like education, transportation etc don't get enough budget.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You discuss both benefits and drawbacks and give relevant examples, such as grandparents helping working parents in Bangladesh or India and isolated older people in Japan. However, the question asks how far the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and your position that the balance “varies considering the location” does not clearly state whether you think the benefits outweigh the costs overall. The ideas are relevant, but several are asserted rather than explained: for instance, you mention older people’s experience without showing how this benefits society more broadly, while the budget argument is not weighed against the benefits. State a consistent overall judgement and develop the comparison between the two sides to address the task more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, a paragraph on benefits, and one on disadvantages. The contrast between the two main sections is easy to follow, and examples generally appear beside the points they support. However, the essay ends after presenting the disadvantages, without a concluding paragraph that draws the discussion together or confirms your judgement. Some links are repetitive, particularly the repeated use of “Sometimes,” and the opening claim that the balance depends on location is not carried through with a clear comparison. Add a conclusion and use more varied, precise transitions so the progression from individual points to your overall assessment is clearer.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including relevant terms such as “medical expenses,” “24/7 assistance,” and “portion of budget.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “last stages of their life.” However, several inaccurate or unnatural choices reduce precision: “longivity” is misspelled, “aged people” is repeated where “older people” would sound more natural, and “takecare their grandchilds” contains errors in both form and expression. Phrases such as “a good company for the childrens” and “keep old people nearby” are also awkward. Build a more accurate range of collocations and vary repeated wording to make the argument sound more natural and precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including clauses beginning with “As” and “which,” and the main meaning is generally understandable. However, errors in agreement, articles, plurals, and sentence construction occur across the response. For example, “The longivity of people are increasing” has a subject–verb agreement problem, while “the advantages or disadvantages … varies” also mismatches subject and verb. In “They need help for daily life activities,” the preposition pattern is inaccurate, and “a nurse is needed to be appointed to take of them” has a faulty construction. Practise checking each sentence for a clear subject and verb, correct agreement, and complete grammatical patterns; this will make your varied sentence attempts more reliable.

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