Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-05

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 5.0)

In recent years, the issue of businesses' advertisements has attracted considerable public and academic attention. While some people contend that these advertisements have a positive impact on businesses, others maintain that advertising can affect them negatively. This essay will examine both perspectives before presenting my own view.

On the one hand, critics of advertisements frequently point out a number of underlying disadvantages. A major reason for this is that if people do not find these advertisements true, resulting in business loss as well as trust issues. For example, recent research has shown that if any company make false claims about their product, it can affect their reputation. Furthermore, customers can feel cheated if the advertisement is not true, which makes this approach less sustainable in the long run.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0

The response sits at this low band primarily because it is severely incomplete. The minimum length requirement of 250 words is not met, as the student's response contains only 128 words. Furthermore, the content fails to address the core prompts of the task: it does not discuss why businesses emphasise that their products are new, nor does it address whether this is a positive or negative development, touching only briefly on potential disadvantages of false advertising. The ideas are extremely limited and under-developed, lacking any clear overarching position or adequate support.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates some organisation through a clear introduction and a second paragraph that attempts to discuss disadvantages. However, there is no clear overall progression or conclusion, cutting off abruptly. Cohesive devices are minimal and somewhat mechanical, such as 'On the one hand' and 'Furthermore', which are used without enough surrounding text to build a cohesive argument. Paragraphing is initiated properly, but the overall structural arrangement is too brief to show advanced logical flow or sophisticated referencing.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, featuring an appropriate range for basic discussion with terms like 'considerable public and academic attention', 'underlying disadvantages', and 'reputation'. However, there are noticeable lexical weaknesses and awkward phrasings, such as 'if people do not find these advertisements true', which lack natural collocation and precision. Spelling is generally accurate, but the overall lexical range remains limited and does not attempt sophisticated uncommon vocabulary successfully enough to reach a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over basic structures and introductory clauses like 'While some people contend that...'. However, there are notable grammatical errors and awkward clause constructions, such as 'resulting in business loss as well as trust issues', which is a fragmented structure, and 'if any company make', which contains a subject-verb agreement error. These errors in grammar and clause patterns occur with some frequency across the short text, limiting the response to a moderate band for grammatical accuracy.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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