Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-17
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)
In contemporary society, individuals opt to read novels or watch dramas in their free time, as reading or watching is one of the popular hobby. The genres can be romance, fiction, mystery, horror, comedy, suspense or thriller. But nowadays crime genres becoming more popular in youngster. This essay will analyze why novels and TV dramas related to crime are becoming more popular.
A number of considerable people are showing interest to read or watch crime in recent years. One of the main reason is that stories related to crime are full of suspense and plot twist with every episode. Moreover, such stories drag individual attention more because they wanted to predict the real villain and end of the story. For instance, readers enjoy to test their capabilities by predicting the story and when the story turned out completely against their imagination they were surprised by the thinking of the writer. In addition, complete change in plot surprised them. However, crime dramas sometime show excesses blood bath which is not always necessary.
On the other hand, other genres like romance and comedy losing their grip over audience because of the same boring ending of the story, in which hero and heroine will live happily ever after. But in reality, this is not always happen. Now individuals want to read or watch more realistic stories which they can relate to. For example, in romance hero will fight with the villain and get married to heroine or in comedy double meaning dialogue are now no longer fascinate the audience. In stead they want to watch something that not allow them to leave their place.
In my perspective, crime genres give lesson at the end of story. In addition, watching or reading such stories develop sense of responsibility in an individual that he should not indulge in criminal activities otherwise he has to face the consequences. Because in the end the real culprit get caught and no crime is bigger than the law.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The student addresses both parts of the prompt, exploring why crime novels and TV dramas are popular and giving a personal opinion on the genre. The position is clear throughout the essay, supported by relevant ideas such as suspense, plot twists, and the realistic nature of crime stories compared to traditional romance tropes. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or repetitive, such as the discussion on the moral lessons provided by crime fiction in the final paragraph. While all prompts are addressed, the depth of extension places the response firmly within the Band 6 descriptor, where relevant ideas are presented but some lack full elaboration.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different arguments, such as the appeal of plot twists in the second paragraph and a comparison with other genres in the third. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or faulty, as seen with transitional phrases like 'In stead they want to watch something that not allow them to leave their place.' Referencing is occasionally unclear, and logical progression between some sentences feels disjointed due to grammatical interference, reflecting the characteristics of Band 6.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'contemporary society,' 'suspense,' and 'criminal activities.' However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations throughout the text, such as 'popular hobby' instead of 'hobbies,' 'excesses blood bath' instead of 'excessive bloodbaths,' and 'heroine' used where 'the heroine' is required. Spelling errors like 'In stead' instead of 'Instead' also occur. These errors do not impede overall communication, matching the Band 6 lexical descriptors.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly concerning subject-verb agreement ('crime genres becoming more popular,' 'this is not always happen'), articles ('in romance hero will fight'), and tense consistency. For example, 'readers enjoy to test' should be 'readers enjoy testing.' Although these errors are noticeable and require the reader to occasionally decode the intended meaning, they rarely completely impede communication, aligning with the Band 6 criteria.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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