Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-26
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 4.5)
It is true that an increasing number of people are developing their innate desire to connect with the past by investigating their residential history. This trend reflects both personal identity research and cultural preservation efforts, enabled by modern approaches of historical data.
There are a variety of reasons behind this curiosity about history of the houses and building they are living. One possible reason is that increasing conservation of heritage. Homeowners often discover that the understanding of history of their accommodation helps preserve architectural integrity during renovation. For example, there was an old house in my neighbourhood and the owner planned to demolish it. Then he researched the house and found original 17th-century features beneath modern layers. So, he finally restored the house carefully and treasured their ancient culture. Additionally, history awareness satisfies a person's emotional needs. Knowing about the culture and heritage can develop deeper emotion to the living spaces.
The modern era has enabled many tools to make successful research about the history. Local council archives now digitize property records, enabling online access to blueprints and ownership history. Now it is very easy to upkeep the records and anyone can extract data when they need. Oral history remains valuable, a person can access the information from their family members or the neighbours. Community initiatives further facilitate discovery.
In conclusion, researching building's past satisfies both practical preservation needs and human yearning to connect across generations. There are several modern and old approaches by which a person can research the history about their residential places.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 2.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 4.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 2.0
The response is completely off-topic. The prompt asks why businesses emphasize that their products are 'new' and whether this is positive or negative. The essay instead discusses the trend of people researching the history of their homes. Because the student failed to address the task prompt entirely, the response cannot be assessed for task achievement regarding the actual question asked. It fails to present a position on the topic of business advertising or provide relevant arguments. Consequently, it does not meet the requirements of the task.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is internally coherent and follows a logical structure with clear paragraphing. Each paragraph has a central theme, and cohesive devices such as 'Additionally', 'For example', and 'In conclusion' are used appropriately to link ideas. While the content is irrelevant to the prompt, the organizational skills demonstrated are competent. The progression of ideas within the essay is logical, and referencing is generally clear, which indicates a level of writing proficiency that is higher than the task response score suggests.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is adequate for the task, showing a range of topic-specific terms related to history and architecture, such as 'architectural integrity', 'digitize', and 'community initiatives'. There is some attempt to use less common vocabulary, though some collocations are slightly unnatural, such as 'history awareness' instead of 'historical awareness'. Overall, the lexical range is sufficient to convey meaning clearly, even though the subject matter is incorrect.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are some grammatical errors, such as 'history of the houses and building they are living' (missing prepositions and incorrect pluralization) and 'a person can access the information' (comma splice). However, these errors do not impede communication. The control of grammar is generally good, and the sentence variety is sufficient for a mid-range band score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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