Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-26

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 6.0)

A few people think that their friends should have same opinions as themselves while others believe that it's better to have friends with different opinions. I am going to discuss both these views and give my perspective.

Some people like to make friends who have same opinions about as themselves which, in a way, is a good thing because these friendships can go a long way as they have less or no arguments. When you share similar perspectives with someone you understand their personality in a better way hence you have a better compatibility with them. I have observed that friends who have similar opinions also share a lot of other common things, for example, they grew up in the same neighborhood or during the same era, went to the same school, had similar childhood experiences. Most importantly, people who have been friends since childhood share a lot of common experiences like watching the same media, movies or cartoons. They can relate to each other's opinions hence this is their comfort zone and they don't want to escape it and open themselves to a difference of opinion, rather they prefer being friends with people who have a same perspective as them.

In contrast, people who like to have friends who disagree with them are more open to opinions and discussions. These people have a broader sense of perspective and they like to discuss new ideas. These people also has a sense of competiveness as they might support a different football team as their friend, or might support a different political party. Talking about different aspects of life through various standpoints can also help you become more intelligent as it broadens your horizon. It also makes one less insecure as they can actually agree with other person's opinion if it seems right, it's a good learning curve. These people are also more emotionally intelligent because they are used to being challenged and go out of their comfort zone to defend an opinion so they are not easy to trigger.

In my opinion, we should have friends with all the different opinions who come from different backgrounds and have various experiences in life. This can help you have a broader sense of life, and it's various aspects. It can also make you an intellectual person as you can discuss various topics with your friends. Having a difference of opinions can open a lot of doors.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The student successfully addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views—choosing friends with similar opinions versus choosing friends who disagree—and clearly stating a personal perspective in the conclusion. The ideas are relevant and generally well-developed. For instance, the discussion on why people prefer comfort zones and shared childhood experiences provides a plausible rationale for the first view. Similarly, the points regarding open-mindedness, emotional intelligence, and broadening horizons effectively support the second view. However, there is a slight tendency to over-generalise or lean on repetitive explanations within the body paragraphs, which prevents the response from reaching the highest band levels. Overall, the position is clear throughout, and the prompt requirements are thoroughly met.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response features a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. The essay is divided into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, two distinct body paragraphs discussing each side of the argument, and a clear concluding opinion. Cohesive devices such as 'In contrast,' 'Most importantly,' and 'In my opinion' are used effectively to guide the reader through the arguments. Referencing is generally clear, though paragraphing and transitions could be slightly more sophisticated to achieve a higher score. For example, the transition between the childhood shared experiences and the conclusion of the second paragraph feels slightly loose. Nevertheless, the overarching arrangement is coherent and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate to sufficient range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'compatibility,' 'competiveness' (spelling slip for competitiveness), 'broaden your horizon,' and 'emotionally intelligent.' Word choice is generally appropriate and communication is never impeded by lexical limitations. There are occasional minor errors in collocation and word form, such as 'have same opinions' (missing the article 'the') and 'These people also has' (agreement error). Despite these minor slips, the vocabulary allows the writer to convey their ideas with reasonable precision and flexibility.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms. The writer attempts various complex structures, such as relative clauses ('friends who have same opinions') and conditional ideas, with moderate success. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('These people also has') and missing articles ('have same opinions'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, though some run-on sentences occur, such as in the second paragraph where multiple clauses are joined loosely with commas. While these errors do not impede communication, their frequency prevents the grammar score from reaching Band 7.

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