Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-04

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In many countries today, crime novels and TV crime dramas are becoming more and more popular. Why do you think these books and TV shows are popular? What is your opinion of crime fiction and TV crime dramas?

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

 

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Crime thriller books and crime dramas in Television are becoming more popular nowadays in many countries, I think this is because people are curious about crime, In my opinion crime fiction and Tv crime dramas are entertaining than other romantic film.

Recently, All age category people's including children's like to watch crime dramas, because they were really curious about to find the culprit, Nowadays movie directors are making a film by the story of real crime multiple twists that encourage the audience interaction and makes them to know how the crimes are happening in real life and it also creates awareness for people to be aware of crime. For example, In USA, a director filmed a movie with a story of real crime, after watching that film people get to know, how this crime happened and they think many ways how these crime could be stopped.

Personally I like Crime series on Netflix, it is very entertaining and makes the time pass. In romantic fil, I feel bored but in this fil it makes me curious and I too give full attention until I complete the whole series. For example, a series recently released in Netflix called "Teach you a Lesson" in that series every episode has a crime happening in school that connects with the student audience.

In conclusion, crime novels and movies are making people to aware of crime which makes them to stop or how to react what to do if real crimes happens, and also it is very interesting and entertaining.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: why crime dramas are popular and the writer's opinion. However, the development is somewhat superficial. The reasons provided—curiosity and entertainment value—are valid but lack depth. The example regarding the USA is vague and lacks specific detail, which limits the persuasiveness of the argument. While the position is clear throughout, the ideas could be extended further to reach a higher band. The conclusion effectively summarizes the main points, but the overall development remains at a basic level, focusing more on personal preference than a broader analysis of the genre's societal impact.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or repetitive. For instance, the frequent use of 'because' and 'for example' creates a predictable flow. There are also issues with sentence-level cohesion, such as the comma splice in the first paragraph ('...many countries, I think this is...'). Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the transition between ideas within paragraphs could be smoother. While the overall progression is logical, the lack of varied linking words and occasional awkward phrasing prevents a higher score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. The writer relies on common, simple terms such as 'entertaining', 'curious', and 'making a film'. There are several instances of awkward word choice or collocation, such as 'All age category people's' and 'makes the time pass'. The repetition of words like 'crime' and 'film' indicates a limited lexical range. To improve, the student should focus on using more sophisticated synonyms and collocations related to media and psychology to express their ideas more precisely.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede readability. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('children's like', 'crimes are happening'), incorrect pluralization ('people's'), and punctuation errors, particularly comma splices. The use of articles is also inconsistent (e.g., 'in Television', 'in USA'). While the meaning is generally clear, the high frequency of these errors indicates a lack of control over complex structures. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for subject-verb agreement would significantly improve the clarity of the writing.

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