Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-04

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 5.5)

It is observed that, in the contemporary era, advertising are best way to advertise products quickly and efficiently. I think that it is positive development rather than negative development. This essay will discuss both positive and negative side with some relevant examples.

On the one hand, there are numerous advantages by using advertisement is the best way to attract consumers attention. Firstly, by using social media to emphasise of watches, clothes, bags, home appliences, and digital tools. Moreover, people are usually interested in products that offer something different from existing one. To exemplify, smartphone company advertise new models, best camera, and strong battery features on their website or social media accounts. Furthermore, presenting a product new can help comapny standout from their competitors and increase its sales.Thererfore, online shopping is easy to access and no need to travel or compare prices on other websites.

On the other hand, there are some negative impacts to this practice. Some companies may describe minor changes as major innovations simply to persude people to buy their products. As result, individuals spend money on this items that are not signicantly better than their previous versions. Neverthsless, this problem can be reduced if customers compare products carefully and avoid being influenced soley by advertisements.

To cut long story short, businesses emphasize the new features of their products mainly to attract customers, increase sales and compete with other companies. Although, this strategy can something encourage unnecessary spending.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the task partially, as it attempts to answer both parts of the prompt regarding why businesses emphasise new products and whether this is positive or negative. However, the ideas remain limited and under-developed, lacking sufficient depth and fully realized examples. Furthermore, the length requirement is not met, as the response falls short of the minimum 250-word limit, containing only 240 words. While a position is stated in the introduction, the arguments are brief and skim the surface of the issues raised by modern advertising trends.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some organisation evident with basic paragraphing and the use of standard transition markers such as 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand'. However, the progression is not always clear, and cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or inaccurate, as seen with phrases like 'To cut long story short'. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as the ambiguous use of pronouns in the body paragraphs. The overall structure follows a conventional essay format, but the links between sentences lack the smooth flow expected at higher bands.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to convey the basic message. There are noticeable lexical errors and issues with word form and spelling throughout the text, such as 'appliences', 'comapny', 'standout', 'Thererfore', 'persude', 'items' instead of 'these items', 'signicantly', and 'soley'. These errors reflect an attempted range that lacks precision, and whilst communication is generally maintained, the frequency of slips restricts the score. The student relies on familiar terms rather than demonstrating flexibility or precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The grammatical range is limited, relying mostly on simple sentence forms alongside attempts at complex structures that are often faulty. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'advertising are best way', missing articles, incorrect prepositions, and awkward clause structures such as 'by using advertisement is the best way'. These frequent errors frequently cause difficulty for the reader and demonstrate a lack of control over complex grammatical patterns.

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