Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-03

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)

There is an ongoing debate over whether people with same interests and perspectives should be friends or not. While a large portion of society has the opinion that like-minded individuals form best friendships, others disagree and believe that it is better choice to have friends who sometimes oppose your thought process. From my standpoint, although both the viewpoints have their own merits, having like-mided people as friends is a blessing owing to the deep understanding among them.

One of the major reasons why people should look for freinds who have very different perspectives is that it helps them to learn the other side of story without being baised about the situation. To elaborate, people who have knowledge about a topic, have a conversation about it, it is more likely to be a thoughtful and informative discussion if they have strong perspectives about it. To cite an example, while having a political affair discussion, my friends and Ialways have very different approaches to comprehend the scenario as our loyalities are on opposite sides. Our conversations always bring up the entirely new facts of the stories which motivates us to look beyond what is offered superficially by the media and help us to challenge our critical thinking to look for the other side of the story. As a result, making friends with opposite opinions helps individuals to not only enhance their understanding about the subject but also improves their critical thinking.

On the other hand, many people believe to be friends with like-minded people due to many considerations. The primary one is that they often have deep understanding about each other. Individuals who share same opinions often have better understanding and connection with each other since their brain processes the same way. They feel at ease with one another because of the high level of comfort which make them share their feeling with each other and relieve stress and anxiety.

Taking everything into account, I finally conclude that even though having both similar minded and completely opposite individuals as friends have benefits at their own respective places, the unerstanding among like-minded is slightly more overpowering than the others owing to the ease and comfortness in that friendship.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on friendship and providing a clear personal position throughout. The arguments presented are generally relevant, satisfying the requirements for a solid mid-level score. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others. For instance, the second body paragraph explores the benefits of having friends with differing opinions through a specific political discussion example, extending the idea effectively. In contrast, the third body paragraph regarding like-minded friends relies on slightly more repetitive reasoning and could benefit from further elaboration and specific examples. To reach a higher band, all main ideas would need to be equally well-extended and supported without any tendency toward generalized explanations.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear, logical progression throughout the response. The writer introduces the topic and states a position in the introduction, moves through both distinct viewpoints in the body paragraphs, and concludes with a summary of the stance taken. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, with each main idea assigned to its own paragraph. Cohesive devices are employed to connect ideas, such as 'To elaborate', 'To cite an example', and 'On the other hand', although some referencing and transitional links feel slightly mechanical. To progress further, the cohesion could be made more natural and unobtrusive, avoiding formulaic transitions and ensuring smoother progression between sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'like-minded individuals', 'thoughtful and informative discussion', and 'critical thinking'. However, there are noticeable spelling, word-choice, and word-form errors that prevent the writing from achieving a higher band. Examples include spelling errors like 'freinds' and 'baised', as well as awkward lexical choices and collocations such as 'political affair discussion', 'like-mided', and 'comfortness'. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they highlight limitations in lexical precision and control. To improve, the writer should focus on expanding word choices accurately, paying closer attention to word forms, spelling, and natural collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating the ability to construct varied clauses using subordinating conjunctions like 'although', 'even though', and 'since'. There are some errors in grammar and punctuation present throughout the text, such as missing articles ('the other side of story'), subject-verb agreement issues ('the unerstanding among like-minded is slightly more overpowering'), and minor prepositions errors. Nonetheless, these errors are relatively infrequent and rarely impede communication, allowing the reader to follow the argument without difficulty. To achieve a higher band, the writer needs to produce a greater proportion of error-free complex sentences and demonstrate finer control over grammatical structures and articles.

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