Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-30

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 6.0)

In todays competitive market, it is common for businesses to promote their product as new and upgraded in their marketing. This essay will explore the reason for this strategy and discuss whether is is positive or negative development.

There are several reasons why companies highlights the novelty of their products. The main reason is that consumers naturally attracted to new things. People often thought that newer product will be more efficient and have better features. For example, a smartphone companies like Apple and Samsung launch new model every year and people buy it as soon as possible because of its new features and quality even their old phones work fine. Secondly, in a highly competitive market emphasizing innovation helps business to stand out from its rivals. If a company does not claim to be new it may appear outdated and lose customers to competitions who seem more advanced.

In my opinion, this trend is a largely negative development. Firstly, this emphasize on newness is often misleading and encourages unnecessary consumerism. Many so called '' new '' products have only minor changes, such as a different colour or small features, but companies advertise them as a major innovation to force people to buy their products. This put financial pressure on the consumers. Furthermore, it has serious environment consequences. When people constantly throw away old but functional product to buy newest version, it creates a huge amount of electronics and plastic waste which harms the environment.

In conclusion, companies stress that their products are new because consumers desires innovation and because it helps them compete in the market. However, i consider this is a negative trend as it promotes wasteful consumerism and often deceptive.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, exploring both the reasons why businesses emphasise that their products are new and discussing whether this is a positive or negative development. The student takes a clear position in the introduction and maintains it throughout, specifically arguing that it is a negative trend due to consumerism and environmental impact. Main ideas are extended and supported with relevant examples, such as mentioning smartphone manufacturers like Apple and Samsung, and highlighting the issue of electronic waste. While some of the supporting points could be slightly more deeply developed to push into the higher bands, the task response is solid and fully meets the requirements for a Band 6.5 or 7.0 by covering all aspects of the prompt clearly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay is logically organised with a clear overarching progression, moving from the introduction to the reasons for the trend, then to the negative evaluation, and finally concluding. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as the separation between why companies use this strategy and the negative critique of the trend. Cohesive devices are employed adequately, including transition phrases like 'Secondly', 'In my opinion', and 'Furthermore'. However, there are some minor mechanical or repetitive transitional choices, and referencing is occasionally slightly loose. Overall, the structure remains coherent and easy to follow throughout the response, fitting comfortably within the Band 6.5 to 7.0 range.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'competitive market', 'consumerism', and 'electronic and plastic waste'. However, there are noticeable instances of word choice, inflection, and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'consumers naturally attracted' (missing verb 'are'), 'newer product' (plural needed), 'smartphone companies' (singular/plural mismatch), and 'environment consequences' (should be 'environmental'). Despite these lexical errors and minor spelling slips, communication is never impeded, and the vocabulary remains broad enough to convey the intended arguments effectively, which is characteristic of a Band 6 performance.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating the ability to construct multi-clause arguments ('If a company does not claim to be new it may appear outdated...'). However, there are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the essay, including missing articles ('in todays competitive market', 'as positive or negative development'), subject-verb agreement issues ('companies highlights'), missing auxiliary verbs, and punctuation oversights around quotation marks. Although these errors are noticeable and detract from the overall fluency, they rarely impede communication as the meaning of each sentence remains clear. This balance of mixed structures and persistent errors aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors.

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