Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-22

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 few people believe that parents are responsible in planning for their children spending their free time on organised group activities while others claim that kids should try to plan themselves on how to occupy themselves in their free time. This essay discusses about both views before stating my opinion. In my opinion, parents should dedicate some time for themselves to plan their kids activities dialy such as joining them in swimming or gymnastics etc as they dont have enough maturity.

Toddlers at their age are not mature enough to make a decision for themselves. As a result, parents are responsible for making an organized timetable for their kids. As children spent a lot of time with their parents, they will be able to identify the passion of their kids. Adults can take the responsibility to plan their kids free time after returning from school. Considering the child's interests, they can be joined in some activities such as swimming, gymnastics, dancing, singing, painting etc. Whereas, children wastes their time by either watching Television or playing video games in phone.

On the other hand, children learning to occupy themselves also offer several benefits such as learning to take independent decisions. Initially, children might waste their free time by either watching TV or using mobile phone. Over the time, as they grew up tehy will be accountable for their own life and take a smart decisons for themselves. Children planning their time brings independence and accountability whereas, a lot of time will be wasted in their life. After time and situations are passed cannot be back again so if in future if they regret about wasting their time so parents should be held responsible in planning their kids free time.

In conclusion, eventhough children planning themselves offer some benefits such as independence and accountability while parents should be held responsible for their kids in planning their free time as they dont have enough maturity at that age. parents can understand their kids and plan an organized timetable for their kids after school.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on how children should spend their free time and clearly stating a personal opinion. The writer presents a clear position that parents should guide and plan structured activities because young children lack maturity. Ideas are generally relevant, such as noting that unguided children might waste time on screens, while independent planning fosters accountability. However, some ideas are slightly repetitive, particularly the arguments regarding maturity and time-wasting. While the main points are adequately covered and extended, more specific examples from personal knowledge or experience would elevate the development to a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing each view, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different arguments. However, cohesion at the sentence level is sometimes mechanical or faulty. For instance, transitional phrases like 'Whereas, children wastes their time' misuse 'whereas' as a conjunction, and referencing is occasionally unclear. Cohesive devices are present but can feel repetitive and rigid rather than fluid, leading to a progression that lacks smooth transitions between contrasting ideas.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to communicate ideas about free time, activities, and maturity. There are attempts to use less common items such as 'organized timetable', 'independent decisions', and 'accountability'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'responsible in planning' instead of 'responsible for planning', 'dialy' instead of 'daily', and 'they can be joined in' instead of 'they can join'. Spelling errors like 'tehy' and grammatical slips in lexical forms occasionally detract from the overall quality.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing conditional structures and relative clauses. However, control over grammar and punctuation is inconsistent. There are frequent grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'children wastes', tense inconsistencies such as 'as they grew up tehy will be', and prepositional errors like 'in phone' instead of 'on the phone'. Additionally, punctuation and sentence boundary errors occur, such as sentence fragments and run-on structures. These errors require some effort to decode at times, though they rarely impede overall communication entirely.

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