Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-10

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In some countries, more and more people are hiring a personal fitness trainer, rather than playing sports or doing exercise classes. What are the reasons for this? Is this a positive or a negative development?

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

Student answer (Band 6.5)

In many countries, some people prefer doing sports in classes or with other people; but for a fact, more and more people started hiring personal fitness trainer instead of playing sports or doing exercise classes.

Looking closer to the reasons of this development, we see that personal fitness trainers come along with a dedicated exercise plan, that is specially tailored for the person they are training. Accordingly, people find it more efficient and effective training with a personal trainer and people get faster results. Moreover, many people find it hard to stick to a schedule or a timing of a class, due to their uncertain working hours. As a result, they hire a personal trainer to keep on doing physical exercises, instead of quitting completely due to not matching timelines. It is important to mention that many overweight people are sometimes shy to train infront of others, because some exercises are hard for them and they would be shy for not being able to complete the exercises. It is also important to put into consideration that personal trainers have been promoting for themselves on social media helping others achieve greater and faster results than usual classes and sports. In addition, it is crucial to mention that there is an ongoing trend that famous people hire personal trainers and get great results. This accordingly affects the behavior of other people and make them heed to hiring personal trainers.

This could be a positive development, as it shows that people are keen and important to them to stay healthy and fit. For some people, they need a trainer that focuses on their weaknesses to help them improve.

If we would consider this as a negative development, then we can mention a few points. One of the opportunity costs of hiring a personal trainer is that you people will lose the interaction between each other while training together in a group. Meeting new people while doing sports not only makes you more energetic, but also changes your mood in a better way. Also, training with others is a motivation for some people to train better.

In the end, it depends on the life style of each and everyone of us. Some people will not be able to train alone and some other are not focused or shy around other people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, identifying several reasons for the trend (customized plans, flexibility, privacy, and social media influence) and discussing both positive and negative aspects. However, the development of the 'positive or negative' section is somewhat unbalanced. While the reasons are well-supported, the discussion on whether it is a positive or negative development lacks a clear, unified stance, as the essay presents both sides without concluding which is more significant. To reach a higher band, ensure your position is clearly stated in the introduction and consistently maintained throughout the essay.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized into paragraphs, each focusing on a specific aspect of the prompt. Cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'As a result', and 'In addition' are used to link ideas effectively. However, some transitions are slightly mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally repetitive (e.g., 'people' is used frequently as a subject). The conclusion is a bit weak, as it does not summarize the main arguments effectively but rather offers a general observation. Improving the variety of cohesive devices and ensuring a stronger summary would enhance the flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the student to express ideas clearly. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'opportunity costs' and 'tailored', which are used correctly. However, there is a reliance on simpler, repetitive phrasing like 'people' and 'doing sports'. Some collocations are slightly unnatural, such as 'promoting for themselves' instead of 'promoting themselves' or 'make them heed to' instead of 'encourage them to'. Expanding the range of synonyms and refining collocations would help achieve a higher score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors, such as 'infront of' (should be 'in front of'), 'promoting for themselves', and 'make them heed to'. There are also minor punctuation and article errors, such as 'the reasons of this development' (should be 'reasons for'). While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher band. Increasing the variety of complex structures and proofreading for minor grammatical slips would be beneficial.

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

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