Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-19

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people say that parents should encourage their children to take part in organised group activities in their free time. Others say that it is important for children to learn how to occupy themselves on their own.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 5.5)

A number of people think that their youngsters should participate in the group activity in their leisure time but other people opine chidren should involve themselves in solo activities. I will discuss both opinions in the upcoming paragraphs.

First of all, most of the children are becoming couch potatoes because of technological devices so they are not participating in physical activities. By encouraging children to take part in social activities they will become more active and creative by sharing and getting ideas with their age mates. For instance, according to recent survey in the local newspaper, it was mentioned that the children who are more sociable grow quickly as compared to other children.

On the other side, some of the children are very introvert and they prefer to live alone by doing some activities themselves. With the support of their parents they will be self dependent, and they create new ideas with the help of internet. Moreover, some of the children have lack of confidence they can over come this weakness by performing alone.

In conclusion, according to my opinion children should be encouraged to become extrovert which will help in their mental and physical development. And they can get more ideas from other children.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses both views regarding group activities and independent play, and provides a clear personal opinion in the conclusion. However, the ideas are somewhat limited and under-developed, relying on brief explanations rather than extended support. For example, the argument that children become 'couch potatoes' is introduced but not fully explored. Furthermore, the length requirement has not been met, as the response contains only 205 words against the mandatory 250-word minimum. This significant under-length prevents the candidate from fully developing their position and ideas, resulting in a penalty under Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into four distinct paragraphs, including an introduction, two body paragraphs representing opposing views, and a conclusion, showing a basic overall arrangement. However, the progression of ideas is sometimes mechanical, and cohesive devices are limited or repetitive, such as the frequent reliance on transitional phrases like 'First of all' and 'On the other side'. Paragraphing is used, but the internal cohesion within paragraphs could be improved to ensure smoother logical transitions between sentences. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as 'they create new ideas' where the antecedent is slightly ambiguous.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'couch potatoes', 'self dependent', and 'extrovert'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices, including 'chidren' (spelling error), 'group activity' instead of plural group activities, and 'have lack of confidence' instead of lack confidence or have a lack of confidence. The vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the basic meaning, but frequent lexical limitations and word-choice errors prevent the score from reaching a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures such as 'children who are more sociable grow quickly' and 'which will help in their mental and physical development'. However, there are several grammatical errors and punctuation slips throughout the text, such as 'children should involve themselves' missing 'that', 'according to recent survey' missing an article, and 'over come' written as two words. Despite these errors, the structures are generally understandable and communication is rarely impeded, placing the essay comfortably within the band 6 category for grammar.

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