Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-04

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)

In recent years many food and drink prouducts contain high levels of sugar, which causes health related issues and it has become and increasingly debatable issue that sugary items should be made more expensive to encourage people to take less sugar. I strongly agree that products which contains lots of sugar should be expensive and it helps people to consume less. This essay will explain why I hold this view.

To begin with, one important reason is that higher price discourage people from buying sugary products. This is because products become tastefull with loaded sugars and due to high price people purchase less sugary items and the sell sugary products reduces. As a result, the production and marketing sugar-rich items is less. For example, Pure dark chococlate which contains around 10 percent sugar and rest pure cocoa from natural sources which is expensive but healthier alternative of ordinary brown or white chocolates.

Another important reason is that higher prices encourage people to choose healthier alternatives. This is explain that high price of sugar can inspire people to consume alternative healthier sweet items to maintain sugar in body and health-conscious choice instead of consuming sugars. For Instance Fruits such as mangoes , watermelon, bananas and chickoo are great alternative options of sugary products.

In conclusion, I firmly agree that sugary products price should be high because big price tag can prevent customers to purchase sugary items and hefty price motivate people to eat alternative options which contains lots of nutritions and it makes your body healthy such as fruits.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt and maintains a clear position throughout. The ideas are relevant, such as the economic impact on consumption and the shift toward healthier alternatives. However, the development is somewhat repetitive and lacks depth. For instance, the argument about dark chocolate is a bit tangential and does not fully explain how price specifically drives the shift in consumer behavior. The ideas are presented but could be extended with more sophisticated reasoning or specific real-world examples to reach a higher band. The position is consistent, but the supporting arguments remain at a fairly general level.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, each with a central topic. There is a logical progression from the introduction to the body paragraphs and the conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To begin with', 'Another important reason', and 'In conclusion', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions are mechanical, and there is occasional awkward phrasing, such as 'This is explain that', which disrupts the flow. Referencing is generally clear, but the connection between sentences within paragraphs could be smoother to improve the overall coherence of the argument.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. There are several spelling errors, such as 'prouducts', 'tastefull', and 'chococlate'. The student uses some repetitive phrasing, such as 'sugary products' and 'sugary items' multiple times. While the student attempts to use some topic-specific vocabulary like 'health-conscious' and 'nutritions', the word choice is often basic. To improve, the student should focus on using a wider variety of synonyms and ensuring correct spelling and collocations to convey ideas more precisely.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede readability. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('products which contains', 'sell sugary products reduces') and awkward sentence construction ('This is explain that high price of sugar can inspire'). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are issues with article usage and word order. While the meaning is usually clear, the frequency of these errors prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. A greater focus on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy would be beneficial.

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

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