Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-22

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)

Nowadays many businesses rely on marketing to sell out their products and if all the products would give the same results with same formula of making the product then no one would buy from one single entity. So in order to stand out in multiple businesses one have to provide something different from the rest.

So to be apart from the crowd, it encourages businesses to try something different and strive for better results. This inadvertently provides a competition between businesses and a better products for lower prices for the consumer. But it also sometimes gives way to greed and businesses try to provide low quality product and much cheaper or higher prices depending on the business of the product which can cause harm to consumer.

To put it in example, lets use skin care ads who are always advertising that they have invented some new formula which would give better results which is excellent from the customers perspective if the business use great quality but can be harmful to the skin if the product uses low quality items which would effect the consumer pockets and would have a bad influence on the business.

Overall it all depends on the product developers that they choose which path to go down the road and what type of image they want to have in consumers mind which would effect their business in a positive and negative way. If they prefer the betterment of the consumers then their business would have lasting effect but if they give way to greed and just want to fill out their pockets then a failure is waiting down that road.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions: you explain that businesses highlight novelty to stand out from competitors, and you discuss possible benefits and harms. The point that competition can lead to “better products for lower prices” is relevant, as is your concern that low-quality skincare could harm consumers. However, the explanation of why novelty is emphasised remains fairly general, and the positive and negative outcomes are asserted more than developed. Your final paragraph makes the outcome depend on whether businesses act responsibly, but it does not clearly state whether you consider the overall development positive or negative. To strengthen the response, give a direct overall judgement and develop each main reason with a specific explanation or example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, discussion of benefits and risks, a skincare example, and a conclusion. This gives the reader a basic route through your ideas. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear, and several links are mechanical or imprecise. For example, “So to be apart from the crowd” repeats the idea of standing out, while “But it also sometimes gives way to greed” shifts to the drawback without clearly connecting it to the earlier claim about competition. The conclusion repeats the contrast rather than resolving it with a clear position. Organise the body into distinct paragraphs for the reasons and your evaluation, and use clearer references and transitions to show how each point follows.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “marketing,” “competition,” “low quality,” “consumers,” and “betterment.” These choices make the general subject understandable. However, the range is limited and several phrases are inaccurate or unnatural, which reduces precision: “sell out their products,” “apart from the crowd,” “a better products,” and “effect the consumer pockets” do not express the intended ideas naturally. There is also repetition of “product,” “business,” and “different.” Aim for more precise collocations and vary key terms—for example, describe firms as promoting “new features” to “differentiate their products,” and explain that poor-quality goods may “harm consumers” or “damage a company’s reputation.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, including conditional structures such as “if they prefer the betterment of the consumers then their business would have lasting effect.” The main ideas are generally recoverable, but errors occur often enough to make some sentences difficult to follow. Examples include “if all the products would give” (an incorrect conditional form), “one have to provide” (subject–verb agreement), and “a better products” (article and plural agreement). Some sentences also run together, particularly the opening sentence, which combines several ideas without clear punctuation. Practise accurate conditional patterns, agreement, and sentence boundaries; splitting long sentences into shorter units will help you express the argument more clearly while retaining complex structures.

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