Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-30

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 6.5)

In recent years, crime novels and TV shows related to crime have become increasingly popular. This trend is primarily driven by people's curiosity, their interest in suspense, and their desire for entertainment. In my opinion, this is a positive development because it can improve people's problem-solving skills and give them a chance to spend quailty time together.

One of the main reasons why crime novels and TV crime dramas are popular is that it satisfy people's curiosity. This is largely because, readers and viewers are often passionate about who did the crime and understanding the motives behind the crime. In addition, these kind of stories usually create a strong sense of suspense, which keeps people engaged and encourage them to keep reading or watching until the end. For example, a crime drama may gradually reveals the clues about a criminal, making audience curious to watch next episode. As a result, crime fiction can provide both entertainment and an opportunity to people to engage with stories.

I believe that the crime novels and TV crime dramas can have several positve effects on people. Firstly, they can improve people's problem-solving and analytical skills because individuals always have to exmine the clues, identify patterns and predict what will happen next. This can encourage them to think critically.For example, when watching a crime series, viewers may try to identify the criminal before the final episode by analysing the evidence presented in each episode. Secondly, these programmes can provide an opportunity for family members or friends to spend quality time together, particularly when they watch an interesting series regularly.

In conclusion, crime novels and TV dramas are popular because of people's interest in suspense and their desire of entertainment. I believe this is a positive development because it can improve people way of thinking and give them an opportunity to spend quality time with their loved ones.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The response addresses both parts of the task directly. In the introduction and body paragraphs, the candidate clearly outlines why crime novels and TV dramas are popular, citing curiosity, suspense, and the desire for entertainment. Furthermore, the candidate presents a clear personal opinion that this is a positive development, supporting it with relevant arguments such as the enhancement of problem-solving skills and quality family time. The ideas are extended and supported adequately, reflecting the requirements of Band 7. Although some points could be explored with even greater depth, the position is maintained clearly throughout the essay, and all key parts of the prompt are thoroughly covered.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The essay displays a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Each paragraph has a distinct central topic, starting with reasons for popularity in the first body paragraph and moving to personal opinions and positive effects in the second. Cohesive devices such as 'One of the main reasons', 'In addition', 'Firstly', and 'Secondly' are used appropriately to guide the reader through the arguments. Paragraphing is managed sufficiently. However, minor referencing issues and slight mechanical transitions occur, such as 'these kind of stories' (plural agreement slip) or missing punctuation which slightly disrupts the flow, placing the response firmly at Band 6.5 to 7.0 range, comfortably meriting a 7.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate and generally appropriate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'analytical skills', 'critical thinking', and 'motives'. However, there are a few noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'quailty' instead of 'quality', 'positve' instead of 'positive', and grammatical collocation slips like 'desire of entertainment' instead of 'desire for entertainment'. Furthermore, phrases like 'these kind of stories' lack plural consistency. Because the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the message with some flexibility despite these minor slips, the response aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, utilising relative clauses ('who did the crime') and conditional or temporal framing ('when watching a crime series'). There are several grammatical errors present throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('that it satisfy people's curiosity' instead of 'that they satisfy'), missing articles, and occasional punctuation slips, such as the run-in sentence 'critically.For example'. While these errors occur regularly, they rarely impede communication, and the meaning remains clear. This balance of complex structures and frequent minor errors is characteristic of Band 6 performance.

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

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