Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-01
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 advertising, businesses put a lot of focus to make their products innovative because there is a lot of competion between the businesses.From my perspective, it is a great development, which will ultimately benefit their own business.
It seems to me that if a product is same in formulation or packaging and is sold by many sellers so, buyer will buy from one shop and the other business will go through loss. For instance, a lipstick is sold in every other makeup brand and if each lipstick from different brand have same formulation, the customer will get bored from this and eventually will not going to buy it.
While, if all business have same product but different formulation, people will go for each of them according to their preference. People usually want something new and fascinating changes in the product so, they can buy and enjoy it. For instance, there are many kind of lipsticks in market such as lip stains, liquid lipsticks, transfer proof , and glossy lipsticks etc. Each of them has different formulation and different packaging, which results in more selling of products.
In conclusion, I would suggest to work on the products and make them innovative so, that the buyer will enjoy the product.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
Your response partially addresses the prompt by discussing why businesses emphasise new products and stating your opinion that it is a positive development. However, your ideas remain limited and under-developed, relying on repetitive examples such as lipsticks rather than exploring broader industry trends. Furthermore, the response is noticeably too short, containing only 208 words against the required minimum of 250 words. To reach a higher band, you need to fully extend your arguments with more diverse examples and ensure you meet the word count requirement by writing a more substantial essay.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
There is some basic organisation in your essay, with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. However, there is no clear overall progression of ideas, and cohesive devices are frequently inadequate, inaccurate, or repetitive. For instance, phrases like 'While, if all business...' and 'so, that the buyer...' disrupt the logical flow and demonstrate faulty linking. Paragraphing is attempted, but transitions between ideas are abrupt. To improve, you should use a wider variety of accurate cohesive devices, such as 'consequently' or 'furthermore', and ensure each paragraph builds logically upon the previous one with clear referencing.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
Your vocabulary range is limited but minimally adequate to convey your basic message about product innovation. You attempt some topic-specific terms like 'formulation' and 'transfer proof', but there are noticeable errors in word choice, collocation, and word form, such as 'competion' instead of 'competition', 'go through loss' instead of 'suffer losses', and 'more selling of products' instead of 'higher sales'. These inaccuracies can cause some difficulty for the reader. To achieve a higher score, you should expand your range of less common lexical items and pay closer attention to natural word partnerships and correct spelling.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
You demonstrate a limited range of sentence structures, relying heavily on simple constructions, and your attempts at complex sentences are often faulty. There are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation throughout the text, including missing articles, incorrect prepositions, and punctuation mistakes, such as 'put a lot of focus to make' instead of 'put a lot of focus on making', and 'the product is same' instead of 'the product is the same'. These frequent errors frequently cause difficulty for the reader. To improve, you need to use a wider mix of error-free complex structures and carefully check your basic grammatical rules.
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.