Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-20

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people say the main way to be happy in life is to have a lot of money. How might having a lot of money make people happy? What other things in life can make people happy?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 5.5)

In today's world money is considered to be the most powerful thing. It can buy you things, it can make you important in the eyes of the world. The key to happiness in this modern world is equivalent to the money you have. But there do excist the things that can make you happy too, even if u have less money. We will discuss both of them with relevant examples.

Having moeny in todays time is a virtue. The reason why people consider this as a source of happiness is because it lowers your efforts and your problems such as when your kid wants a toy that is expensive, buying him/her that toy would make them happy and would make you happy too. When u happen to be at a traffic light and a beggar comes to you, giving them money will give u a sense of relief and happiness.

Whereas there are a certain amount of people in the world that live in teir 3 cities, for them happiness doesn't involve money. For them having a tea with thier family, while watching a movie is the source of their happiness. Getting good grades and recieving a candy from your father is what kids in the teir 3 cities consider happiness.

Therefore in the end all I want to say is that either you have the money or not. You should live a happy life. Small things that gives you happiness could be way more important having to spend money at an amusement park to make yoursef feel good.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: how money facilitates happiness and alternative sources of happiness. However, the development of ideas is quite limited. The examples provided, such as buying a toy or giving money to a beggar, are somewhat simplistic and lack depth. The discussion regarding 'tier 3 cities' is a good attempt to contrast perspectives, but it remains underdeveloped. To reach a higher band, you need to expand your arguments with more sophisticated reasoning and detailed examples that explore the psychological or social aspects of happiness rather than just surface-level observations.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. There is a basic attempt at logical progression from the introduction to the body paragraphs and the conclusion. However, the use of cohesive devices is quite mechanical and sometimes repetitive. For instance, the transition 'Whereas there are a certain amount of people' is slightly awkward. Additionally, the referencing is occasionally unclear, and the flow between sentences could be smoother. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that each paragraph has a clear, unified focus would significantly enhance the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. You rely on basic terms like 'important', 'happy', and 'money'. While the meaning is clear, there is little evidence of less common lexical items or idiomatic expressions. There are also several spelling errors, such as 'excist', 'moeny', 'teir', and 'recieving', which indicate a lack of attention to detail. To improve, focus on learning synonyms for common words and pay closer attention to spelling and word formation to ensure your writing appears more professional.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, such as 'there do excist the things', 'u have less money', and 'Small things that gives you happiness'. These errors, while not always impeding communication, are frequent enough to be noticeable. Punctuation is also inconsistent in places. To achieve a higher score, you should work on subject-verb agreement, correct the use of informal abbreviations like 'u', and aim for more error-free complex sentences by practicing subordinating conjunctions and relative clauses.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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