Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-11-08

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

It is better to buy just a few expensive clothes, rather than lots of cheaper clothes.

Do you agree or disagree?

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

It's been argued that its better to buy a few expensive clothes, rather than buying lots of cheaper clothes. In my opinion I disagree, I would rather buy cheaper clothes than buying a expensive clothes.

Buying cheaper clothes is more practical and its better to have more clothes so you will have more choices to wear in your daily living. For example if you want to go to any special event or occasions you can buy cheaper clothing that is with good quality and presentable. Even you have loads of clothes but still a budget friendly its easy for you to changed it any time you want. You can also do business like thrift shop if you dont want the wear your other clothes. You will not feel bad even you discard it anytime. Unlike for the expensive clothes if you will wear it and accidentally you put a stain on it, you will feel bad and you will think that you wasted you're money. And if you will buy expensive clothes and you just have few choices you will feel stress, especially for some ladies who loves to look good in any occasions.

Therefore I conclude that its not better to buy few expensive clothes, I would rather buy lots of clothes that is cheap because you will get a lot of choices and you will not feel bad if anything happen to the clothes because you can easily change it with another one because you have a lot of choices.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear from the introduction: you disagree and prefer buying cheaper clothes. You give relevant reasons, including having more choices, spending less, and being less upset if clothing is stained or discarded. The thrift-shop example also adds a practical consequence. This addresses the task, but some points are asserted rather than fully explained: for instance, the claim that having few expensive clothes causes stress could be linked more clearly to everyday situations. The discussion also focuses mainly on the disadvantages of expensive clothing, with limited consideration of why someone might choose it, such as durability. Develop the strongest reasons with a specific example and explain their significance to make the argument more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall shape: an introduction states your view, the main paragraph gives supporting reasons, and the conclusion restates your preference. Ideas generally follow a sensible order, and examples such as staining a garment support the point about financial risk. However, most of the argument is placed in one long body paragraph, so distinct reasons are not clearly separated. Linking phrases such as “For example,” “Unlike,” and “Therefore” help, but some connections feel mechanical, and the reference in “Even you have loads of clothes but still a budget friendly” is difficult to follow. Use separate paragraphs for your main reasons and make the relationship between each example and its point explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough everyday vocabulary to communicate your preference and give relevant examples, including “special event,” “good quality,” “presentable,” and “thrift shop.” The main limitation is that wording is repetitive and sometimes imprecise: “clothes,” “choices,” and “feel bad” recur, while phrases such as “daily living” and “changed it any time” do not express the intended meaning naturally. There are also word-form and spelling problems, including “a expensive” and “dont.” These do not prevent the reader from understanding your overall argument, but they reduce precision and naturalness. Build a wider range for discussing cost, durability, versatility, and clothing care, and check collocations and spelling during revision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences with reasons and examples, so the response shows some variety. The main ideas remain understandable, but there are some recurring errors in sentence construction, articles, agreement, and punctuation. For example, “I disagree, I would rather…” joins two independent clauses with only a comma, and “a expensive clothes” has an article and number problem. In “you will feel bad and you will think that you wasted you're money,” the pronoun form is incorrect; “who loves” also does not agree with the plural “ladies.” Try dividing long sentences into clear clauses, and check articles, subject–verb agreement, and possessives. More accurate control of these patterns would make your argument easier to read.

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