Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-04

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 is considered by people that numerous expensive apparels are better to purchase instead of buying bundles of local dresses. I completely disagree with this approach. In this essay, I will mention some reasons and examples to support my statement.

In this pioneer era, where it is very difficult for a person to give a bread to his family from his salary. Purchasing branded dresses is very challenging for him. In this regards, local shops plays a preliminary role by offering discounts on apparels. Additionally, local vendors also offers budge friendly price to their items. For instance: person who can not afford expensive outfit can easily catch the cheaper one.

Nowadays, due to huge popularity of media people get easily influenced by the dresses and fashion that are trendy. In addition, people are more materialistic in this modern society unlike, the previous era. For Instance: in current time people feel shame to carry same dress on different occasions as a result they are eager to go for shopping for every party.

In my opinion, purchasing many dresses in an affordable price is far better option than buying one or two dresses that are too much heavy for pocket. For instance: if a person will buy variety of dresses in a low budget then, it will be easy for him to attend multiple functions with different look. As far as buying expensive dresses are concerned, it bound a person to wear same outfit on different occasions.

In a nutshell, we should promote wearing cheaper dresses in our society in order to make life much easier for those people who can not bear the expenses of branded clothes.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position against buying expensive clothes. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you provide reasons such as affordability and the influence of social media, the arguments are repetitive and lack depth. For instance, the point about 'feeling shame' to repeat outfits is a good observation, but it is not fully explored in relation to the prompt's core tension between quality and quantity. To reach a higher band, ensure that each paragraph introduces a distinct, well-supported argument rather than restating the same point about budget constraints multiple times.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear introduction and conclusion. You use some cohesive devices like 'In addition,' 'For instance,' and 'In a nutshell.' However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and there are instances where referencing is slightly unclear, such as 'In this regards' (which should be 'In this regard'). The progression of ideas is generally logical, but the connection between the influence of media and the preference for cheaper clothes could be more explicitly linked to ensure a smoother transition between your points.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'materialistic,' 'preliminary role,' and 'affordable.' However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'give a bread to his family' (should be 'put bread on the table' or 'provide for his family'), 'heavy for pocket' (should be 'heavy on the pocket' or 'expensive'), and 'bundles of local dresses.' These errors occasionally impede the natural flow of your writing. Expanding your range of collocations and refining your usage of idiomatic expressions will help improve your score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While you attempt complex sentences, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'local shops plays,' 'local vendors also offers') and article usage. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with some sentences being fragmented or incorrectly joined. While these errors do not completely prevent the reader from understanding your message, they are frequent enough to impact the overall clarity. Focusing on basic subject-verb agreement and refining your use of articles will significantly enhance the accuracy of your writing.

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