Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-05

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 6.5)

Whether to invest in a small wardrobe with high quality garments or to purchase a lot of inexpensive clothing has become a subject of significant debate. While the budget-friendly options offer variety and accessibility, I strongly believe that buying a few well-made clothes is superior to having a lot of cheaper clothes because it promotes environmental sustainability, durability and financial value over time. This essay will discuss all the reasons that support the agreement in detail.

First and foremost, high quality garments are built to last longer, offering better durability and lower long-term costs. Inexpensive clothes are mass produced using different synthetic fibres and poor stitching quality, causing items to fade, or lose the original shape, and sometimes wear off after a few significant washes. However, high quality fabrics that are made typically use premium materials such as wool, silk, cotton and leather. Though these cost more to produce a single piece of apparel for example leather, they endure over a decade and do not fade away even when used numerous times without degrading. Overall, the cost per wear can be considerably reduced over time compared to the frequent purchase of poor quality apparel.

Furthermore, prioritizing quality over quantity is an economically sustainable choice and mitigates the detrimental environmental impacts on fast fashion. For instance, over consuming the clothes quite often can increase the landfill waste and rapidly raises the pollution level in the oceans by synthetic dyes and factories that release their waste when creating mass production of the clothes and by sufficing the needs of today's fashion world. Consequently, purchasing fewer well-made clothes, makes consumers reject the overconsumption.

In conclusion, buying a few premium quality clothes rather than accumulating an excess of cheaper garments is a safer choice due to its superior durability and promotes environmental safety.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, maintaining a clear position throughout. The arguments regarding durability, financial value, and environmental impact are relevant and well-supported. The ideas are extended with specific examples, such as the mention of synthetic fibres and landfill waste. The essay is well-structured, and the position is consistent from the introduction to the conclusion. To reach a higher band, the student could further develop the 'financial value' argument by providing a more concrete comparison or a hypothetical scenario to illustrate the long-term savings more vividly.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear progression of ideas. Each paragraph has a central theme, and the transition between paragraphs is smooth, using cohesive devices like 'First and foremost' and 'Furthermore'. Referencing is generally clear, though some sentences could be tightened for better flow. For instance, the phrase 'by sufficing the needs of today's fashion world' in the third paragraph is slightly awkward and disrupts the logical flow of the argument. Overall, the paragraphing is appropriate, and the logical sequence of ideas is easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to discuss the topic with precision. Phrases like 'environmental sustainability', 'mass produced', and 'detrimental environmental impacts' show a good grasp of topic-specific language. There are some minor collocation issues, such as 'wear off' (should be 'wear out') and 'fade away' (which is slightly redundant in this context). However, these errors do not impede communication. The vocabulary is generally appropriate for an academic essay, and the student makes a successful attempt to use more sophisticated terminology.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several error-free sentences, demonstrating good control. However, there are occasional grammatical slips, such as 'high quality fabrics that are made typically use' (word order) and 'by sufficing the needs' (awkward phrasing). Punctuation is generally accurate, though some sentences are slightly clunky due to word choice. The majority of the text is clear and error-free, which supports a solid band 7.0. To improve, the student should focus on refining complex sentence structures to ensure they are perfectly natural.

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

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