Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-23

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)

Advertisiments of a product in different and innovative ways to make it appear new is emphasised by businesses to improve their sales and lure more customers

to purchase the product.

Overall, the basis of any kind of advertisement is enhancing the selling value of a product and presenting them in a new way somehow puts pressure about their rejuvanation. In my knowledge this is wrong.

I strongly believe that promoting a product as new definitely improves sales. However, the consumers are not getting anything new or better ingredients based products its just the advertising done in a certain way. This not only fools the consumers but also impacts their economic aspect. There are certain advertisemnets selling products with words like new and improved or brand new formulation with increased prices that influence the psychology of the targeted audience and boosts the sales of the product. Often times the consumer pay more for the same old formula.

Furthermore, promoting stuff as new requires a lot of improved packaging this pollutes the environment and impacts our resources. Generally people prefer shiny and colourful labelling that is made out of unrecyclable plastics. These plastic products are dumped into the dumpyards and if thrown into the waterbodies they clog our rivers and oceans. Due to this aquatic life is getting influenced over time.

In conclusion, rebranding an old product as enhanced negatively impacts the society in a lot of ways. This includes psychological, financial and environmental parts of life of the consumers for whom these advertisements are targeted.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: why businesses emphasise that their products are new, and whether this is a positive or negative development. The student takes a clear position that it is a negative development, stating that it misleads consumers and harms the environment. The ideas are relevant and generally extended, such as discussing psychological manipulation and plastic waste. However, the development remains somewhat basic and general rather than deeply explored. For instance, the explanation of how advertising impacts the economic aspect could be supported with more precise examples. Nevertheless, the response covers all parts of the task adequately, placing it firmly at a Band 6.0 according to the IELTS descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay is generally coherent with an overall logical arrangement. The introduction presents a stance, followed by body paragraphs focusing on consumer impact and environmental consequences, concluding with a summary. Paragraphing is utilised, though some paragraphs are quite brief. Cohesive devices are present, such as 'Furthermore' and 'In conclusion', but referencing and linking can occasionally feel mechanical or abrupt, as seen in the transition from the second to the third paragraph. There are also occasional phrasing choices that make the flow less smooth, but the progression of ideas remains clear enough for the reader to follow without significant confusion, fitting the Band 6.0 profile.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'rejuvanation', 'formulation', and 'unrecyclable'. However, there are notable spelling errors ('Advertisiments', 'rejuvanation', 'advertisemnets', 'dumpyards') and occasional word choice and collocation inaccuracies ('impacts our resources', 'economic aspect'). While these errors are noticeable, they do not severely impede communication as the writer's meaning is generally clear throughout. The vocabulary is sufficient to convey simple and somewhat complex arguments, corresponding to a Band 6.0 level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses and conditional structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation lapses, such as run-on sentences in the opening paragraphs and missing commas. For example, phrases like 'the consumer pay more' demonstrate subject-verb agreement errors, and 'based products its just' contains punctuation and contraction issues. Despite these frequent errors in complex structures, the simple sentences are usually correct, and meaning is rarely obscured, aligning well with the Band 5.5 to 6.0 descriptors. A Band 6.0 is awarded as communication remains functional.

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