Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-13

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Many manufactured food and drink products contain high levels of sugar, which causes many health problems. Sugary products should be made more expensive to encourage people to consume less sugar.

Do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Food and drink products which contain high levels of sugar are extremely popular in contemporary world. Whether tax should impose on suger related products that encourage people to take less sugar or not. I firmly believe that high prices of products urge people to spend less on it and decrease government budget on healthcare.

To begin with, higher prices of products will decrease the parchase of products and improve health-related issues. People buy less products and spend money on healthy diet. For example, a student buy a meat to make spicy dishes at home instead of sugar related products. this decision increases his health and make his habit. Therefore, high tax will reduce the demand of things which contain higher sugar.

Furthermore, government should spend less money on healthcare department. altough health-care in sigificant aspects, money should spend on education of people. This step increaes the budget of government and use this money for other development purposes.

However, it impact on people who used to sugar product. Higher cost will cause difficulties for their living style. On the other hand, tax on sugar related food will destory the business and impact on many families livelihood.

In conclusion, from my prespective, high tax is beneficial for the people. it increases the productivity of people and reduce the demand of products. Apart from that, it will create problems for regular user and business. Due to closer of sell, it impact people livelihood and income. overall, it is better to impose tax on sugar related products.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You give a clear position in favour of making sugary products more expensive, and you address both the expected health benefits and possible disadvantages for consumers and businesses. The points about reducing demand and redirecting public spending are relevant, as is your acknowledgement that higher prices could affect people’s lifestyles and family livelihoods. However, some ideas are only briefly explained: the example of a student choosing meat is unclear, and the link between a sugar tax, healthcare costs and government spending needs more support. The opposing points are also introduced but not weighed against your main argument. Develop each reason with a clearer explanation or a specific, relevant example, and make the conclusion reflect that evaluation.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, two paragraphs supporting the tax, a paragraph noting disadvantages, and a conclusion. Paragraphs generally have a clear central purpose, and signposts such as “To begin with,” “Furthermore,” and “However” help readers follow the argument. At times, though, progression within paragraphs is abrupt. For example, the move from healthcare spending to education is not fully explained, and the final paragraph repeats earlier claims without resolving the contrast between benefits and harms. Some references, such as “it” in “it impact on people,” are unclear. Build stronger links between each claim and its consequence, and use referencing and transitions to show how the counterargument relates to your position.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main argument, including “high levels of sugar,” “health-related issues,” “demand,” “healthcare,” and “livelihood.” There are also attempts at more formal expressions, such as “development purposes” and “impose tax.” However, the range is limited and several spelling and word-choice errors make the writing less precise: “suger,” “parchase,” “destory,” and “prespective” are examples. Some combinations are unnatural, including “spend less products,” “sugar related products,” and “closer of sell.” Aim to learn accurate collocations for taxation and consumption, and check spelling carefully. More precise vocabulary would help distinguish effects on consumers, businesses, and public services.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including the relative clause in “products which contain high levels of sugar” and the contrast introduced by “However.” The main ideas are usually understandable, but some errors in sentence structure, verb forms, agreement, articles, and punctuation reduce accuracy. For instance, “Whether tax should impose…” is an incomplete construction, while “a student buy” and “it increases … and reduce” show problems with verb agreement. In “money should spend,” the passive form is missing, and several sentences begin with lowercase letters after full stops. Practise forming complete clauses and checking subject–verb agreement, articles, and verb forms; this will make your argument clearer while preserving the range of structures you are attempting.

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