Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

In contemporary society, most of the companies, insist that their products contain new innovations and are contain cutting-edge and state of the art features. They try to make their products seem interesting and emphasize the novelty of their innovations, even though the changes might be relatively minor. This is primarily because consumers and customers are attracted to new and innovative changes, leading to an increase in the market competition. Although this can encourage companies to make innovaitons, it can also lead to some negative consequences in the long run. In this essay, I will discuss the reasons and examples on why I think this is a negative development and conclude with my opinion.

One of the primary reasons companies promote their products and emphasize on their novelty is because it allows them to advertise and make profits at a grand scale. It allows them to attract more customer interest, as customers can often confuse novelty with technological advancement, even when there may not be any new ground-breaking discoveries. In addition to this, companies follow the market trends and changing consumer perceptions as well. For instance, in terms of mobile phone sales if customers are overly concious about the amount of ram contained in their phone, then companies will match their products and promote the higher ram while cutting down on other features, to make profits.

Another reason why this trend is a negative development is because it can create a massive competition in the market, which can lead to some shady practices in the over arching demographic. When there is a lot of competition, rivals tend to stand out from the rest with new terms like "cutting edge" , "brand new" and "improved" which can give people a sense of false comfort, and they tend to believe that this product offers something that the others do not. Novelty of the product has become a strong psychological tool for the sellers and organizations in order to manipulate sales, which is a negative trend and a misleading one at that.

Nevertheless, I believe that companies trying to sell new products and making innovations can be a good thing when done right. The strong market competition has led to a significant improvement in the battery life of the phones, as consumers become more vary of the importance of the battery life of their phones. Consumer targeted novelty is key for businesses to thrive and taking feedback from the customers is one of the most important things companies can do to drive sales. For instance, google pixel phones are adding AI features in their phones can are very helpful for people and this new feeling of novelty has led to increased sales of the google pixel line up in developing countries like Pakistan.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that the companies insisting on novelty and their products being new and improved in some way every single year, are misleading the customers but product novelty as a whole can be a good thing when targeted towards the customer and consumer base. A company focused on the market trends and making customers happy with their novel and new products would be the ideal scenario.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt: it explains why businesses emphasize novelty and provides a balanced view on whether this is positive or negative. The position is clear throughout, although the argument is slightly contradictory; the introduction states the development is negative, but the body paragraphs shift to a more nuanced view, eventually concluding that it can be both. The ideas are generally well-supported with examples like mobile phone RAM and Google Pixel AI features. To reach a higher band, ensure the central argument remains consistent or explicitly frame the essay as a discussion of both sides from the start.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Each paragraph has a central theme, such as the reasons for marketing novelty or the negative impact of competition. Cohesive devices like 'In addition to this', 'Nevertheless', and 'In conclusion' are used effectively to guide the reader. However, there are minor issues with referencing and flow; for instance, the transition between the negative aspects in paragraph three and the positive aspects in paragraph four is a bit abrupt. Overall, the progression of ideas is clear and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The vocabulary is generally appropriate for the task, with some good collocations like 'cutting-edge', 'state of the art', and 'psychological tool'. There are some minor errors in word choice and spelling, such as 'innovaitons' (innovations), 'concious' (conscious), and 'vary' (wary). The range is sufficient to discuss the topic with some precision, but it lacks the sophisticated, idiomatic control required for higher bands. The repetition of words like 'novelty' and 'products' is noticeable, suggesting a need for a wider range of synonyms to enhance the flow and lexical variety.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is always clear, there are several grammatical slips, such as 'most of the companies, insist' (unnecessary comma), 'are contain' (incorrect verb form), and 'can are very helpful' (syntax error). Punctuation is generally functional, though there are occasional errors with commas. The majority of sentences are understandable, but the frequency of these minor errors prevents the writing from reaching a higher band. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and eliminating redundant auxiliary verbs would improve the accuracy significantly.

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.