IELTS Task 2 opinion essay: Poverty and crime
A Task 2 opinion question. Give your own view and keep it clear in every paragraph: agreeing in part is fine, as long as you say how far and why.
6 students’ essays below, each marked by Axiom, from band 5.5 to 6.5. Updated on 19 September 2026.
The question
Some people believe that poverty is the main reason why people commit crimes, while others think that crime is caused by other factors. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Students’ essays on this question, marked by Axiom
Across these 6 essays the average band is 6.2: Task Response 6.7, Coherence and Cohesion 5.7, Lexical Resource 6.7, Grammatical Range and Accuracy 6.2. Coherence and Cohesion was the weakest criterion.
Real answers, shared without their writers’ names, newest first. Each opens with its revisions marked in place. Estimated by AI. It isn’t an official IELTS score.
Overall band, an AI estimate: 5.5
Essay #6
Task response 6.0, coherence 5.0, vocabulary 6.0, grammar 6.0
Actually some individuals think that the main reason why people commit crimes cause to financial problems, while others believe that crime is caused by other factors. I…
Overall band, an AI estimate: 6.5
Essay #5
Task response 7.0, coherence 6.0, vocabulary 7.0, grammar 6.0
Nowadays, there is an ongoing debate about what is the main factor of committing crime rates. Some people believe that the poverty mostly lead to people to crime, while…
Overall band, an AI estimate: 5.5
Essay #4
Task response 6.0, coherence 5.0, vocabulary 6.0, grammar 5.0
Actually some individuals think the main reason to commit crime is poverty and also other people think there is another reason to commit crime.i don’t think all of them…
Overall band, an AI estimate: 6.5
Essay #3
Task response 7.0, coherence 6.0, vocabulary 7.0, grammar 7.0
There is an ongoing debate about individuals commit crimes because of poverty although some believe that there are several other factors which cause a crime. Crimes are…
Overall band, an AI estimate: 6.5
Essay #2
Task response 7.0, coherence 6.0, vocabulary 7.0, grammar 7.0
There is an ongoing debate among people about the reasons why some individuals commit crimes. Some people think that the main reason of being criminal is poverty, while I…
Overall band, an AI estimate: 6.5
Essay #1
Task response 7.0, coherence 6.0, vocabulary 7.0, grammar 6.0
There is a ongoing debate while many individuals consider that poor living conditions is the key why people combat crimes, others believe that crime is caused by other…
More Task 2 questions like this one
Questions on the same theme, then questions of the same type, each with students’ essays marked by Axiom.
- Unpaid community work for young adults: an advantages and disadvantages question, 2 essays
- Competition or cooperation: a discussion question, 3 essays
- The influence of news media: a two-part question, 3 essays
- Young offenders treated as adults: an opinion question, 3 essays
- Criminals who reoffend: a causes and solutions question, 2 essays
- Crime reporting in the media: an opinion question, 2 essays
Check your answer to this question
Write your own essay on this question and Axiom gives it a band for each criterion, with revisions for your own sentences. How the Task 2 checker works.
Check an essay free