Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-25

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 5.5)

Nowadays, companies are representing their products as new with unique features in advertisements to gain popularity. I believe that this strategy is predominantly both positive and negative because it drives business growth and significantly increases sales and revenue globally. However, promoting fake products can face many consequences.

On the one hand, businesses which are moving towards advertising in ways to represent their products with new features gain more popularity. This approach has much greater positive outcomes because people prefer to buy things which has uniques qualities. For example, many bakeries sell the same type of cake, but customer attracts on that bakery whose advertisement shows healthy ingredients and clean manufacturing with proper hygiene. As a result, a proper marketing strategy has the potential to create substantial growth. Commercial ads that emphasise that their products are new in some way have seen a massive increase in sales globally.

On the other hand, fake and intrusive advertisements can lead to various legal issues because honesty should be a major priority of any company. For instance, businesses such as skincare show ingredients on the product that are beneficial for the skin. However, if that product causes any skin infection or problem, this can create an adverse image of the business. Ultimately, it is very important to consider long-term consequences for the success of a business.

In conclusion, this development has its positive and negative merits. I strongly believe that businesses should consider both sides for companies' long-term growth, while ensuring that potential negative effects are carefully addressed.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: explaining why businesses emphasize 'newness' and providing an opinion on whether this is positive or negative. The position is clear from the introduction. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention that 'newness' drives growth, the explanation could be more deeply explored with more specific examples beyond the bakery analogy. The discussion on the negative side is also a bit brief. To reach a higher band, ensure that your arguments are fully extended with more nuanced reasoning and concrete evidence, rather than relying on general statements about 'legal issues' or 'adverse images'.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the positive and negative aspects. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand', which help the reader follow the progression of your argument. However, some transitions are a bit mechanical, and the flow between sentences could be smoother. For instance, the link between the bakery example and the broader claim about global sales could be more tightly integrated. Overall, the structure is coherent and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'predominantly', 'substantial growth', and 'adverse image'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation. For example, 'customer attracts on that bakery' is grammatically and lexically incorrect; it should be 'customers are attracted to that bakery'. Additionally, 'businesses such as skincare' is imprecise, as skincare refers to a category of products, not a business type. To improve, focus on using more precise collocations and ensuring that your word choices are contextually accurate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While you attempt complex sentences, there are several recurring grammatical errors. For example, 'people prefer to buy things which has uniques qualities' contains a subject-verb agreement error ('has' should be 'have') and a spelling error ('uniques' should be 'unique'). There are also issues with article usage and pluralization, such as 'businesses such as skincare show ingredients'. While these errors do not impede overall communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and plural forms will significantly improve your accuracy.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.