Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-14
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
Some people think it's better to choose friends who always have the same opinions as them. Other people believe it's good to have friends who sometimes disagree with them.
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)
Firstly, we talk about those friends who always have the same opinions. In this case, this is good thing for both because they have the same mindset in every phase of life. They both were happy because no one disagree others. This is the positive side of this case. Let's talk about the negative side. In this if they agree their friend in every situtation, I think this is not good for him, also problematic for his friend as well. For example yesterday, my friend Ali ask me to go with him in a party, but i don't want to go with him because its not good for us. If i agree him, this is not good for me and my friend.
Secondly, we talk about those people who think always agree with your friends is not good .In this case, your friend never suggest you to do wrong things. Sometimes they agree with you but sometime they don't. I think we need to know that what's good for us or what's not. Our friends help us to check what's good for us. This is the reason they give us multiple answers like agree or disagree.
I personally like the second one, because this type of persons help to be a better person. They tell us what is right and what's wrong. Sometimes we need our friends, because we are in trouble, but sometimes our friends stop us and tell what's right. I think we need to listen our friends what they are saying, not judge them what they said.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses both parts of the task, discussing the merits of having friends with similar opinions and friends who disagree, and clearly states the writer's personal preference for the latter. Ideas are presented, such as the comfort of agreement versus the corrective guidance of disagreement, but they are limited and somewhat under-developed due to repetitive phrasing and simplistic personal anecdotes, such as the example about Ali wanting to go to a party. The position is clear throughout, but the support lacks depth and broader perspective, which places this response comfortably in Band 5.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The text displays some organisation with basic signposts like 'Firstly' and 'Secondly', but there is no clear overall progression of ideas, leading to a somewhat disjointed reading experience. Paragraphing is attempted, though the division of ideas feels arbitrary rather than logical. Cohesive devices are repetitive and sometimes inaccurate, such as the excessive use of 'in this case' and 'this is not good for him, also problematic for his friend as well'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, particularly with pronoun usage like 'if I agree him'. These issues align with the Band 5 descriptors.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is basic and repetitive, frequently recycling words like 'good', 'bad', 'friends', and 'opinions' throughout the essay. There are noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations, such as 'agree him' instead of 'agree with him', and 'tell what's right'. The range is minimally adequate for expressing simple ideas, but the lack of flexibility and the frequency of word-choice errors prevent the response from achieving a higher band, fitting the Band 5 criteria well.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response features a very limited range of grammatical structures. Simple sentences predominate, and attempts at complex or conditional structures are frequently faulty, such as 'If i agree him, this is not good for me and my friend' and 'If they agree their friend in every situtation'. There are frequent errors in verb tense consistency, prepositions, and article usage, which occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. These characteristics correspond directly to a Band 5 level of grammatical accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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