Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-04

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)

In these modern days businesses are highlighting their products new in some ways. This generally happens to promote their goods as a special things. Emphasizing a product has both advantages and disadvantages. I believe that it is a negative way of development.

Advertising is a best way to promote a newly launched product, everyone does advertising in many ways like, marketing through TV ads, by publishing a poster etc. When advertising a product, they exaggerate the product to attract public. For instance, a car company is marketing a car through ads, they mention about the car's mileage, but in reality it's mileage may differ from ads. It is just a way to convince people to buy their goods. If the original qualities are mentioned they may not get much publicity. The main motto of spending huge amount of money on advertisement is to get some profits from it.

Meanwhile, due to such types of advertisements, people get wrong information about that particular product. Public may believe that everything is said in is true, and get disappointed after seeing the final outcome. Some companies even cross limits to promote that their product it better than other's. For example, cola war happened in early 2000's. In this war Pepsi company and coca-cola company started spreading wrong information in order to portray that one company's drink is not as good as another company's drink. Due to this both brands and people get loss. It is not good to advertise by spread false rumors in this modern and fast developing world.

In conclusion, I would like to say that promoting is a good thing to bring awareness about their product. But over emphasizing it may leads to many consequences.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

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 companies exaggerate to gain profit and that this leads to consumer disappointment, the arguments could be more thoroughly extended with more nuanced analysis. For instance, the discussion on the 'cola war' is a relevant example, but the link back to the 'newness' aspect of the prompt is slightly tenuous. To reach a higher band, ensure each paragraph fully explores the implications of the points raised.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. There is a progression of ideas, moving from the reasons for advertising to the negative consequences. However, the use of cohesive devices is sometimes mechanical or repetitive (e.g., 'For instance', 'For example', 'In conclusion'). Additionally, some transitions between sentences are slightly abrupt, such as the shift from the car example to the 'main motto' of advertising. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring smoother transitions between sentences would enhance the flow and coherence of the essay.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the message to be conveyed clearly. You use some topic-specific terms like 'newly launched', 'publicity', and 'false rumors'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are instances of awkward phrasing or word choice, such as 'highlighting their products new in some ways' (should be 'highlighting that their products are new') and 'get some profits' (should be 'generate profit'). To improve, try to incorporate more precise collocations and a wider range of academic vocabulary to express your ideas with greater sophistication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with articles ('a best way', 'the Pepsi company'), subject-verb agreement ('it may leads'), and sentence construction ('everything is said in is true'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, such as the comma splice in the second paragraph. While these errors do not significantly impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy and diversifying sentence structures would be beneficial.

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

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