Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-19

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 true that these days people prefer to buy expensive clothes rather than purchasing cheaper. Although I agree with this statement because high quality clothing is more durable, i also opine cheaper clothes have own importance.

To begin with, there are several reasons why people prefer to buy exorbitant clothes. Firstly, when people prefer to buy expensive clothes, it helps them to gain their confidence and show status in front of others. To explain, they feel proud if anyone praised for them about wearing branded clothes so they feel happy and easily concentrate on work. In addition to it, brand clothes save their not only money but also time. As when they buy branded clothes they have no need to replace it and no need to buy again because these clothes they can wear long time.

On the other hand, some drawbacks associated when people buy cheaper clothes. Firstly, it put adverse impact on the environment because government need to set up number of industries to make the clothes which put adverse impact on the environment because industries release number of toxic gases as a consequence, it not only harm the fauna but also flora. Apart from it, most of the people feel bored to wear same clothes on every occasion due to which some time they feel stress and anxiety to go in front of others because it loose the confidence of people.

To conclude, while expensive clothes quality is more much better than cheaper, i believe that people feel bored to wear same dresses.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing whether it is better to buy expensive clothes rather than cheaper ones, presenting a position on the issue. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and contradictory at times. For instance, the student states in the introduction 'Although I agree with this statement... i also opine cheaper clothes have own importance', which creates some confusion regarding the exact stance. Ideas such as gaining confidence and environmental impacts are introduced, but they remain partially developed and tend to over-generalize. For example, the claim that branded clothes save time because they never need replacing lacks sufficient depth. Overall, the response fulfills the basic requirements of the task but falls short of full development due to superficial arguments and minor internal contradictions.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is divided into paragraphs, including an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion, which provides a basic structural framework. However, the logical progression is frequently disrupted by mechanical and repetitive cohesive devices. Phrases like 'To begin with', 'Firstly', and 'In addition to it' are used, but transitions between sentences can feel abrupt. For instance, the transition from discussing confidence and status to saving money and time within the same paragraph lacks smooth connection. Additionally, referencing is occasionally unclear, such as pronoun usage in 'as when they buy branded clothes they have no need to replace it'. Paragraphing is attempted, but internal cohesion requires better management to ensure a clearer flow of ideas throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate their general ideas about clothing and lifestyle. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'exorbitant' and 'adverse impact', though these are sometimes accompanied by inaccuracies in collocation or word choice, such as 'gain their confidence' instead of 'boost their confidence' or 'loose the confidence' instead of 'lower confidence'. Spelling and word formation are generally acceptable, but noticeable repetition of words like 'clothes', 'expensive', and 'cheaper' limits the lexical range. While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the message, errors in word choice and lack of precision prevent it from reaching a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The text contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in grammatical structures. However, frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasing are present throughout the response. Examples include missing articles or incorrect prepositions, such as 'government need to set up number of industries' and 'wear long time'. There are also structural errors like 'some drawbacks associated when people buy cheaper clothes' (missing passive verb) and subject-verb agreement issues like 'expensive clothes quality is more much better'. These errors occur regularly, though they rarely impede overall communication, placing the response solidly in the band 5 range for grammar.

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

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