Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-14

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 their publicity, businesses are currently presenting their products in a new way because right now, new items emerge every day. People generally do this to increase the hype of their product. Consequently, increases the sales of their products, which, according to me, is a positive development.

Many businesses advertise their new products in such a fashion that increases their sales. Changing the strategy will boost their sales. For instance, several food chains in Lahore publicise their products by including the younger generation in their ads, ultimately influencing young people, and it becomes a trend. This trend increases the demand for their food items. It is a good thing to scale your business by promoting young people.

I believe that this is a positive approach to boost your business by changing the presentation. Nowadays, it is becoming a trend, and every businessman is following this. Customers also like this strategy because, in this era of social media, many people purchase trending items to show off. My friends, for example, visit KFC every weekend and post their food snaps on TikTok and Facebook just to inform us that they are eating trending food. Another factor is copyright, because many products relate to each other in terms of the ingredients used to manufacture them. Many businessmen use catchy names to attract customers, even though the product is already available in the market with a different name. This also increases the sales of their product.

Taking all points into consideration, I believe that businessmen should change their strategy of advertisement, which will consequently boost their businesses. Furthermore, it will help local customers to get to know about the different types of products and can choose easily according to their needs.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: explaining why businesses emphasise that their products are new, and giving an opinion on whether this is a positive or negative development. The writer presents a clear position throughout, stating that it is a positive development that boosts sales and helps customers. However, the ideas are somewhat repetitious and lack deep extension or sophisticated support. For instance, the discussion of food chains in Lahore and the mention of TikTok are relevant examples, but they remain somewhat superficial. The task is addressed adequately, placing it firmly at Band 6.0 according to the descriptors for relevant ideas that could be more fully developed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a recognisable introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used, though paragraph 3 is notably long and touches on multiple disparate points, such as social media trends and copyright issues, which weakens internal cohesion. Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or basic, such as 'For instance', 'My friends, for example', and 'Taking all points into consideration'. Referencing is generally clear, but the logical progression between sentences can feel abrupt at times, such as the sudden shift to copyright in the third paragraph. This fits the Band 6 descriptor where cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'publicity', 'hype', 'copyright', and 'ingredients'. However, there are noticeable limitations and occasional inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'increase the hype of their product' rather than 'build hype around a product', or 'promoting young people' instead of 'targeting the younger demographic'. Spelling is generally accurate, but the overall lexical control sits at a modest level. The vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the main ideas, aligning well with the Band 6 criteria.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and conditional-like structures. However, there are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings throughout the text. For example, the opening sentence contains a fragmented structure ('Consequently, increases the sales...'), and subject-verb agreement or phrasing occasionally falters ('businesses advertise their new products in such a fashion that increases', 'can choose easily'). While punctuation and basic structures are generally controlled, the frequency of structural slips means that errors persist without completely impeding communication, making Band 6 an appropriate score.

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