Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-20

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 5.0)

Many manufactured food and liquid consumables contain high amount of sugar, which leads to significant health issues. It is argued that sugary items should be made more costly to motivate consumers to have limited sugar.

On the one hand, adequate amount of sugar in manufactured food and drink products cause significant health problems among various age groups. Sugar produces dopamine which leads to addiction. Customers tend to purchase these products due to addiction to sugar and that product. Companies benefit by selling these products whereas consumers pay the prize with their health.

On the other hand, by increasing the cost of the product a quarter of sales may decrease but others remains the same. For instance, a person may like a product since their childhood which contains excess sugar even after increasing the cost of the product they will still purchase it. Hence it may help only for some extent but is not a pe

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response is significantly under the 250-word minimum requirement, which severely limits the development of ideas. While the essay introduces the topic and attempts to present both sides, the argument is incomplete and ends abruptly mid-sentence. The position is not fully developed, and the lack of length prevents a thorough exploration of the prompt. To improve, you must ensure you provide a full introduction, two or three well-developed body paragraphs with supporting evidence, and a clear conclusion. Currently, the response fails to address the task requirements due to its brevity.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay uses basic cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand' to structure the response. However, because the text is incomplete and ends mid-sentence, the overall progression of ideas is interrupted. Paragraphing is present, but the logical flow is hindered by the lack of a concluding summary or a fully realized argument. To reach a higher band, ensure that each paragraph has a clear topic sentence and that ideas are linked smoothly throughout the entire essay, leading to a coherent conclusion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. You used some relevant terms like 'manufactured food' and 'dopamine', but there are errors in word choice, such as 'pay the prize' (should be 'price') and 'liquid consumables' (which sounds unnatural; 'beverages' or 'drinks' would be better). To improve, focus on using more precise collocations and a wider variety of academic vocabulary to express your ideas more effectively.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and some complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'adequate amount of sugar... cause' (subject-verb agreement error: 'causes') and 'help only for some extent' (preposition error: 'to some extent'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but the incomplete nature of the final sentence makes it difficult to assess your control over complex structures fully. Focus on subject-verb agreement and correct preposition usage to improve your accuracy.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.