Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-12

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 5.0)

Some people think children should do group activities in their free time. Others think children should learn to play alone. Both ideas have benefits for the children.

On one hand, group activities are very useful for children. when children play in a team, like football or cricket, they learn many things like honestly, sportmanship and teamwork and how to coperate with others. They also make new friends and learn social skills. For example, in a football team, a child learns to share, to listen to the coach, and to respect rules. These skills are very important for their families and also for future goals.

On the other hand, learning to be a alone is very important. when a child plays alone, he becomes more independent and activities.For example, when child read a book. they learn many things from the books how to manage how to explain how to discuss with others. so it isvery important for children.

In my opinion; both are neccesory but activities are little more important for now days. Because many children spend thire free time in the use of phone and internet.They need more social contacts.So parrents should give time for thier children but also give some time for children for play alone.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address both views and give a clear preference for group activities, noting that children need social contact because they spend time on phones and the internet. The examples of football and reading are relevant, but the discussion is brief and some points are unclear or insufficiently explained. For instance, you say independent play helps children “manage how to explain how to discuss with others,” without making the benefit clear. The response also does not meet the required minimum length, so the ideas and supporting examples are not developed enough to cover the task fully. To strengthen your response, explain the value of independent activities more clearly and add specific examples and reasons for your opinion.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a basic, useful structure: an introduction, one paragraph for each view, and a concluding opinion. Phrases such as “On one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In my opinion” help signal the stages of the discussion. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow, particularly in the independent-play paragraph, where the reading example leads into a confusing list of skills. Some links between ideas are abrupt, and the conclusion repeats the main point rather than drawing the discussion together. Use clearer topic sentences and connect each example directly to the claim it supports; also check that pronouns such as “they” have an unmistakable reference.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough basic vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “teamwork,” “social skills,” “independent,” and “respect rules.” However, the range is limited and several spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, sometimes making the meaning harder to understand. Examples include “honestly” where a quality such as honesty is intended, “sportmanship,” “coperate,” and “neccesory.” Phrases such as “activities are little more important” and “give time for their children” are also imprecise or unnatural. Build a wider set of accurate expressions for discussing children’s development, and check spelling and collocations carefully. More precise vocabulary would help you explain the benefits of both group and individual activities.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Most sentences use simple structures, and you attempt some longer sentences to explain reasons and examples. However, errors are frequent, and some make the message difficult to follow. For example, “learning to be a alone is very important” has an article problem, while “he becomes more independent and activities” is incomplete and does not express a clear grammatical relationship. There are also missing articles in “when child read a book,” inconsistent sentence openings and capitalisation, and punctuation problems such as the semicolon after “In my opinion.” Practise forming complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, and check articles, agreement, and sentence boundaries. A few accurate complex sentences would also add variety.

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