Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-02
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 more good to purchase some costly clothes, in stead of many cheaper clothes. Many people argue that their wardrobe must be full of dresses although they worthy, while many others reject this notion and claim that they must not spend their money on expensive attires. This controversy has significantly increased due to the widespread use of social media. The substantial influence has sparked the controversy over the potential impact in recent years. In my opinion, the latter proposal seems to be more rational and my ideas will justify this opinion.
First and foremost reason behind this is that expensive things make you valuable but to some extant. In addition costly dresses cannot enhance the personality. So, this is the character of a person that makes him worthy not clothes. There are many examples of people around us who wear expensive clothes but they are not impressive due to their manners.
Categorically, discussing there are a lot of people in the society and they are from different strata, with different buying and purchasing capacity. If everybody will spend without thinking just to satisfy his ego it would be a serious economic concern. So that, every person should spend thoughtfully according to their budget.
Another striking reason is that, people usually show off when they wear worthy dresses. This is not a healthy trend in the society, and such emotions of people create problems for others, whish lead to deteriorate the society ethically.
To recapitulate, in my opinion people should buy clothes according to their own capacity
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 response addresses the prompt, but the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. While you take a clear position, your arguments regarding economic concerns and social 'show-off' behavior are not fully linked back to the core debate of quality versus quantity in clothing. The points are relevant but lack depth and specific examples; for instance, mentioning 'strata' and 'economic concern' is a good start, but it needs more concrete explanation to reach a higher band. The conclusion is also abrupt and lacks a final summary statement to reinforce your position.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your argument. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or slightly unnatural, such as 'Categorically, discussing' and 'So that, every person'. Some transitions between sentences feel disjointed, making the progression of ideas feel a bit forced. While there is an attempt to use linking words, they are not always used with the precision required for higher bands. Improving the flow between sentences would significantly enhance the readability of your work.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors. For example, 'expensive attires' is not standard usage (attire is usually uncountable), and 'worthy dresses' is an incorrect collocation for 'expensive' or 'high-quality'. You also use 'more good' instead of 'better'. While you attempt to use more sophisticated vocabulary like 'strata' and 'controversy', these are sometimes used in contexts that feel slightly unnatural. Focusing on learning common collocations will help you express your ideas more naturally.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'everybody will spend... it would be'), incorrect preposition usage (e.g., 'to some extant'), and punctuation errors. The sentence 'whish lead to deteriorate the society' contains both a spelling error and a grammatical error regarding the infinitive form. While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of these errors prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. You should focus on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and article usage.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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