Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-06

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In their advertising, businesses nowadays usually emphasise that their products are new in some way. Why is this? Do you think it is a positive or negative development?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Contemporary businesses market their products as new and innovative these days mainly to capture the attention of customers and increase the popularity of their product. However, as a customer, my perspective is that it effects both the businesses and customers more negatively in the long run.

Nowadays, the market is overflowing with new businesses and different products are launced everyday. Most businesses put a great effort in advertising their product as something that has never been done before to increase customer's curiosity and purchases. However, more often then not these products are falsely advertised which ultimately leads to disappointment of the buyer. For example, many skincare brands targeting aging concerns, claim to be integrating the newest and most effective form of retinoids in their products, but most of these retinoids are not even needed for good results. This can be highly damaging especially for the customer as it can cause a bad reaction on their skin or in the very least does not yield the results the advertisment claimed resulting in customer disappointemt and poor reviews.

Most brands opt this strategy of advertisment to increase their sales, which at first works but overtime leads to far less returning customers compared to the businesses who focus more on the quality of their product rather than if they are inventing something new. A personal instance that I encountered recently was buying a hair removal IPL laser machine, which costed me a good amount of money. The advertisment claimed a new and gentle laser technology which promised significant hair growth reduction in 12-14 sessions. However, even after six months of consistent use, I did not notice a significant difference in the hair growth. Turns out the laser is not medically strong enough to reduce hair growth in the first place. It is a perfect example of how tall claims in advertisments can lead to dissatisfaction in the customers, damaging the reputation of the business overtime.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

Your response addresses both parts of the question: you explain that businesses stress novelty to attract attention and increase sales, and you clearly judge this as a negative development. The skincare and IPL examples make the consequences concrete, especially the links to customer disappointment and damage to a company’s reputation. The position remains consistent throughout. To strengthen the response further, develop the explanation of why novelty-focused advertising is so common beyond the general point about competition and sales—for instance, explain how it helps a product stand out in a crowded market. The discussion also concentrates on misleading claims; acknowledging that some genuinely useful innovations can benefit consumers would make the evaluation more fully balanced and nuanced.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response has a clear overall progression: the introduction states your view, the first body paragraph explains the effect on customers, and the second focuses on sales and business reputation. Examples are placed where they support the relevant points, and links such as “However,” “For example,” and “Turns out” help guide the reader. The main limitation is that the two body paragraphs repeat a similar chain of claims, disappointment, and reputational harm, so the progression could be more distinct. Some connections are also compressed: the skincare example moves quickly from unnecessary ingredients to possible skin reactions. Make the cause-and-effect steps explicit, and use a more formal transition than “Turns out” to maintain a consistent academic tone.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use an adequate range of topic vocabulary, including “capture the attention,” “falsely advertised,” “retinoids,” “consistent use,” and “damaging the reputation.” These choices communicate the argument clearly, and terms such as “retinoids” add useful specificity. There is also some imprecision and repetition: “new,” “product,” “advertisement,” and “significant” recur, while “tall claims” is less natural in this context than “exaggerated claims.” Spelling errors such as “launced,” “advertisment,” and “disappointemt” also limit the accuracy of the vocabulary. To move higher, vary repeated wording, choose collocations more precisely, and proofread spelling carefully while retaining the relevant subject-specific terms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including subordinate clauses such as “which ultimately leads to disappointment” and “which promised significant hair growth reduction.” Most sentences remain understandable, and the reader can follow the examples and your position. Some grammatical errors persist, however. For example, “it effects both the businesses and customers” has an incorrect verb form, and “Most brands opt this strategy” is missing a required preposition. There are also issues with agreement and sentence construction in “the newest and most effective form of retinoids … are not even needed.” Review verb forms, prepositions after verbs, and agreement in longer sentences. More consistent control of these patterns would improve accuracy without sacrificing sentence variety.

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