Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Many people would prefer buying a newely launched product rather than an old on going product. It is a common practice for brands to advertise their current product as new and improved to boost sales and retain customers. In my humble perspective, I believe this is a negative development for the advertised audience.

As an effort to retain customers, businesses often enhance their products such as groceries, electronic devices and vehicles to stay relevant with current technologies or trends. Such as food and beverage companies who relaunch their products annually by changing packaging design and claiming flavour enhancement. Car manufacturers are another example, they bring minor additions to a car design or features called a 'facelift', which is a term coined by the car industry. This practice proves to be highly economical for co-orporations as research and developments activities require immense company resources.

The benefits only favour companies so that remain highly profitable. The consumers on the other hand never got any significant benefits with the new styling of product. Moreover, the only noticeable changes in the products are its increased prices or a reduction in quality which is also another standard practice of co-orporations.

With above said, I hold firm to my belief that businesses advertising old products as new is a negative development. Companies should focus their resources in research and development and become innovators to improve to grow product sales and quality. Sooner or later people will catch on the fact that the companies are employing deceiving tactics and boycott their products unti the situation is changed,

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear: you consider the emphasis on novelty a negative development, and you explain why businesses use it, referring to customer retention, trends and the lower cost of minor updates. The examples of food packaging and car “facelifts” make the response relevant and show that you address both parts of the question. However, the explanation of why companies promote products as new could be more fully developed—for example, explain how novelty attracts attention or encourages repeat purchases. The consumer-focused argument is also asserted rather than demonstrated: claims that buyers receive no significant benefit and face higher prices or lower quality would be stronger with a specific example or clearer reasoning. This gives the response a solid, relevant answer, but some ideas remain underdeveloped.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction states your view, the next paragraph explains business motives, and the following paragraphs discuss consumer effects and conclude with a recommendation. This overall arrangement is easy to follow, and phrases such as “Moreover” and “With above said” signal relationships between ideas. Some links are less smooth or precise, however. “Such as food and beverage companies” is a fragment rather than a fully integrated example, while “The benefits only favour companies so that remain highly profitable” makes the connection between company profit and consumer disadvantage unclear. The conclusion also repeats the negative position without synthesising the main reasons. Develop clearer links between each claim and its example, and use referencing that makes the relationships explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of topic-related vocabulary, including “retain customers,” “current technologies,” “flavour enhancement,” “facelift,” and “research and development.” These choices help communicate the subject and show some willingness to use less common terms. There are also several inaccurate or awkward choices that reduce precision: “newely launched,” “old on going product,” “co-orporations,” and “deceiving tactics.” Some expressions are vague or unnatural, such as “advertised audience” and “the benefits only favour companies.” Aim for accurate spelling and more natural collocations, and choose wording that distinguishes genuine product improvements from cosmetic changes. The meaning is generally understandable, but more consistent control of word choice would make the argument clearer and more fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including the sentence beginning “As an effort to retain customers” and the conditional construction “Sooner or later people will catch on…”. The main ideas can generally be understood, but some grammatical errors and punctuation problems remain. For example, “Such as food and beverage companies…” is an incomplete sentence, and “The benefits only favour companies so that remain highly profitable” has an unclear clause structure. In “people will catch on the fact,” the verb pattern is not correctly formed, and the final sentence ends with a comma rather than appropriate punctuation. Work on complete sentence construction, clause connections, and verb patterns, then proofread punctuation. Greater accuracy across the complex sentences would strengthen the response.

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