Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-06

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)

I partly agree with the statement about food and drink products contain high levels of sugar, Which causes many health problems.

To begin with, the sugary products available in the market like soft drinks and foods people are completely addicted to them, because it gives an instant energy boost with short period of time. As of now, in India most of the people are attracted to drink tea, coffee, energy drinks frequently which contains huge rate of sugar if there is sudden raise in the price, the consumers will be in mentally stressed because the sugar intake it less and the body does not accept to this and they hurt themselves.

On the other hand, Instead of making sugary products expensive we can make an alternate in take of sweet taste like honey, jaggery, stevia etc.

These kind of products can be used in the food intake of the consumers so that we can help the people to slowly get distracted with sugar and make sure that they get rid of sugar intake and sugary products intake with decent consistency.

I have personally experienced this issue few years ago i was high on sugars which lead my body fitness to different paths, so i have started honey instead of sugar it took over 2 years go completely get rid of these sugars and now i am totally alright.

To conclude, Its not good to stress the consumer to forcefully get rid of sugars. Instead we can take the help of the available supplement's for getting distracted from intake of sugars to the body

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a 'partly agree' position. However, the development of ideas is limited. The argument regarding the negative psychological impact of price increases is somewhat speculative and lacks depth. The alternative suggestion of using natural sweeteners is relevant, but the explanation of how this would be implemented on a societal scale is underdeveloped. The personal anecdote is a bit informal for an academic essay and does not fully support the broader economic argument regarding taxation. To improve, you should focus on providing more logical, well-supported arguments that directly address the economic and health implications of the proposed policy.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, but the logical flow between ideas is sometimes disjointed. While some cohesive devices are used (e.g., 'To begin with', 'On the other hand', 'To conclude'), they are occasionally used in a mechanical way. The transition between the economic argument and the personal anecdote is abrupt, making the progression of ideas feel slightly fragmented. Additionally, some sentences are difficult to follow due to punctuation errors, which affects the overall readability and the clarity of the argument's progression.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and variety expected at higher bands. There is some repetition of basic terms like 'sugar', 'sugary products', and 'intake'. Some word choices are slightly unnatural or inaccurate, such as 'high on sugars' or 'distracted with sugar' (likely meaning 'weaned off'). While the meaning is generally clear, the range of vocabulary is limited, and there is little evidence of less common lexical items or sophisticated collocations that would demonstrate a higher level of control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. Issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'products... contains'), incorrect preposition usage, and run-on sentences. Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with the use of commas and capitalization (e.g., 'Which causes'). These errors are noticeable and occasionally cause the reader to pause, though they do not completely impede communication. To reach a higher band, you need to focus on sentence construction, consistent verb tense usage, and accurate punctuation.

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

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