Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-16

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)

In modern time, an increasing tred of shopping has a fundamental role in our lives. It has been reckoned by peolpe that should purchase a small number of expensive, high-quality clothes rather than a large quantity of inexpensive garments. This essay will elucidate that I agree with formar view, and I will explain reasons and example in the subsequent paragraph.

To commence with, one major advantage of buying high-quality clothes is their durability. To expand, although expensive garments require a larger initial investment, they are usually made from better-quality materials and are desinged to withstand frequent use. Consequently, they are less likely to loss their shape, colour or become damaged after several washes.

In contrast, cheaper clothes may need to replaced regularly, meaning that concumers could utimately spend more money over time. To illustrate, a person who buy a well-made winter coat for $250 and wears it for five years may spend less in the long run than someone who purchases a $70 coat every year.

Another important consideration is the environmental impact of excessive clothing consumption. The rapid growth of inexpensive fashion has encouraged people to buy clothes implusively and discard them when they are no longer fashionable. This contibutes to textile waste and increase the resources required for manufacturing and transportation. By choosing a smaller garments, consumers can reduce unnecessary waste and make more responsibile purchasing decisions.

To recapitulate, I believe that buying fewer but high-quality clothes is preferable to purchasing large quantities of cheap garments. This approach can reduce long-term expenses, extend the lifespan of clothing and help minimise environmental waste.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The candidate successfully addresses all parts of the task by presenting a clear and well-developed position on whether it is better to buy expensive, high-quality clothes over cheaper alternatives. A clear stance is established in the introduction and maintained throughout the essay. The body paragraphs present relevant and well-supported ideas regarding durability, financial savings over time, and environmental impact. For example, the financial argument is supported by a concrete comparison between a $250 coat and a $70 coat, which effectively extends the main idea. While the development is somewhat concise due to the length of the response, all necessary elements of the prompt are fully covered. The candidate provides sufficient reasoning and examples from general knowledge to meet the requirements for a Band 7.0 in this criterion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay displays a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Each paragraph has a distinct central topic, moving smoothly from the introduction to arguments concerning durability, financial savings, environmental impact, and finally a summary conclusion. Cohesive devices are used adequately to connect ideas, such as 'To commence with', 'In contrast', 'Another important consideration', and 'To recapitulate'. However, there are minor awkward transitions like 'To expand' which are slightly unnatural. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, ensuring the reader can easily follow the progression of the writer's argument. Referencing is generally clear, though minor mechanical errors in cohesion prevent the essay from reaching a higher band. Overall, the organisational structure is solid, warranting a Band 7.0 for coherence and cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The candidate demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow for some flexibility and precision, incorporating less common items such as 'durability', 'initial investment', 'excessive clothing consumption', and 'textile waste'. However, there are several spelling mistakes and lexical inaccuracies throughout the text, including 'tred' instead of 'trend', 'formar' instead of 'former', 'desinged', 'loss' instead of 'lose', 'concumers', 'utimately', 'implusively', 'contibutes', and 'responsibile'. Despite these errors, the vocabulary used is adequate to convey the intended meaning clearly, and communication is never impeded. The writer attempts a varied vocabulary suited to the topic of fashion and consumer habits, which aligns well with the descriptors for Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The candidate utilises a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating control over structures such as conditional-style reasoning and relative clauses (e.g., 'a person who buy a well-made winter coat...'). There are, however, several grammatical errors and slips present in the text. For instance, there is a subject-verb agreement error with 'someone who purchases' contrasted with 'a person who buy', an article omission in 'By choosing a smaller garments' (where 'smaller' is also an incorrect lexical choice for 'fewer'), and passive voice slips such as 'are desinged'. Punctuation is generally acceptable, and while these errors are noticeable, they occur alongside frequent error-free sentences and do not impede overall communication. This performance fits comfortably within the Band 6.0 descriptor for grammatical range and accuracy.

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