Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-03
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)
I agree with the statement that people say that 'Money is the main way to stay happy in life' but not completely. Money can make us happy but it is not the only thing. Money can buy everything in the world except relations with the loved ones. Money will only make you happy but wont buy you love from someone. After a certain age money would be nothing but a pience of paper.
A lot of money can make people happy as it could help you buy your favorite cars, clothes, travel to places you love etc. More money can be used to buy more businesses and help you become a billionaire. Some people find donating money to charities makes them feel happy.
But as I mentioned above money is the main way but not the only way to stay happy. Certain ways of staying happy are spending time with loved ones, playing your favorite sport, hanging out with friends etc. Happiness is different for everyone for some people doing something big like purchasing a house or going out with their children makes them happy whereas for some a small interaction with someone or a walk at beach makes them happy. For me personally apart from money the things that make me happy is singing and playing piano and entertaining friends and family as well other people.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing how money brings happiness and exploring other sources of joy like relationships and hobbies, but the ideas remain somewhat limited and under-developed. For instance, the second paragraph lists buying cars, clothes, and traveling, but does not extend these points with sufficient explanation or elaboration. Additionally, your response contains 227 words, which fails to meet the minimum length requirement of 250 words. To reach a higher band, you need to write more fully and extend your supporting examples with deeper explanations.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
There is a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the response into an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty. Phrases like 'But as I mentioned above' signal transitions awkwardly, and the linking of ideas lacks smooth progression. Paragraphing is used, but the internal logical flow between sentences needs better control. To improve, you should use a wider and more natural range of cohesive devices to connect your thoughts seamlessly from one sentence to the next.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, though it is somewhat repetitive and contains a few noticeable errors in word choice and spelling, such as writing 'pience' instead of 'piece'. You attempt some less common vocabulary items like 'billionaire' and 'donating', but overall the range is limited. Word choice is occasionally simplistic, such as repeating 'happy' and 'money' frequently throughout the text. To achieve a higher score, you should incorporate a broader variety of precise synonyms and less common lexical items with accurate spelling and natural collocation.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but attempts at complex structures are sometimes faulty. There are several grammatical errors and punctuation issues, such as missing commas in lists ('cars, clothes, travel to places you love') and missing capitalization or articles in places like 'walk at beach'. You also wrote 'wont buy you love' without an apostrophe, and some sentences lack proper subject-verb agreement or smooth clause integration. While these errors rarely impede communication, you need to demonstrate better control over complex sentence patterns and punctuation to move up.
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