Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-02

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)

Many businesses while advertising their product advocate for its benefits only.While a product always have such demerits as well and they dont find it neccessary to address them.Therefore , I believe that if it is introduced as an alternate to some costly product, easy to use and along with its pre-cautions being mentioned then it would be a positive development.However, if it is advertised to put only an illusion on people by hiding its adverse effect then it would be considered as negative development.

For instance , if a pharmacy company advertise a skin ointment.While demonstrating the ointment, the company has mentioned all its uses , precautions and its excessive use.The company even describes it as alternate to costly skin creams by eloborating its ingredients.Hence , this would be called as a positive development from all aspects.

Moreover, the example of nagative development would be the opening of a private school.This has been quite observed in country side of pakistan that few individuals start a private school,advertise their projects through different platforms , they promise the native people about various facilities such as IT equipments, science laboratories etc.Then , after enrollment of students , they failed to hold on such promises.If there had been a little demonstration of their facilities, this would been a positive advertisment.Therefore, this type of nagative development lead people into despair and other ill feelings.

In conclusion , there is nothing wrong in advertising a product.But, the way of promoting it matters a lot.It must be advertised in covering its all aspects including its composition , side effects and economical perspective.That would be considered as positive development. If there is absence of any specfic aspect while advertiment then that might cause a problem for that bussiness and can be considered as negative development.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You give a position—advertising novelty can be positive when it is transparent, but negative when it conceals drawbacks—and include examples involving a skin ointment and a private school. These examples are relevant, but the response only partly answers the question: it does not clearly explain why businesses emphasise that products are new, such as attracting attention or differentiating themselves from competitors. The discussion also shifts from advertising products to a school’s unfulfilled promises, so the link to novelty is unclear. Several claims remain general, and the conclusion repeats the transparency argument rather than developing the reasons behind your view. Address both the motivation for this advertising strategy and its effects, then explain each example’s connection to novelty more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an opening position, two example paragraphs, and a conclusion. The contrast between positive and negative advertising gives the reader a basic line of argument, and signposts such as “For instance,” “Moreover,” and “In conclusion” help identify stages. However, progression is sometimes mechanical, with repeated “Therefore” and “Hence,” and the relationship between some ideas is not always clear. For example, the school example concerns promises about facilities rather than emphasising that something is new. Sentence boundaries and spacing also interrupt the flow. To strengthen organisation, make each paragraph develop one clear point and use linking phrases that show the precise relationship between claims and examples.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some topic-relevant vocabulary, including “precautions,” “adverse effect,” “ingredients,” and “side effects,” and you attempt more formal expressions such as “positive development.” This gives you enough range to communicate the main argument, but word choice and collocation are often inaccurate or awkward, sometimes making meaning less clear. For example, “advocate for its benefits” is not a natural way to describe advertising, and “put only an illusion on people” does not clearly express misleading consumers. Spelling errors such as “neccessary,” “eloborating,” and “nagative” are also noticeable. Build accuracy by learning common advertising collocations and checking spelling and word forms before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including conditional structures such as “if it is introduced as an alternate…” and “If there is absence…”. However, control is inconsistent, and errors in agreement, articles, verb forms, and sentence boundaries frequently affect readability. Examples include “a product always have,” “a pharmacy company advertise,” and “they failed to hold on such promises.” Some sentences also join or separate clauses incorrectly, as in “While demonstrating the ointment, the company has mentioned…” and “Therefore , I believe…”. Practise accurate subject–verb agreement and past versus present forms, and review how to punctuate subordinate clauses. Shorter, carefully controlled sentences would make your ideas easier to follow.

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