Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-02

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 6.0)

In today's era, processed food and beverages contain an excessive amount of sugar which makes these foods unhealthy and have some severe impacts on human health. Some people believe that the government should impose taxes to make them more expensive to reduce consumption.

To begin with, manufactured food products are indeed unhealthy and contain large amounts of sugar and there are many factors that contribute to their heavy consumption such as availability, affordability and wide variety. Furthermore, sugary products should be made expensive through various strategies, the best one can be imposing additional taxes based on sugar levels. This way people may shift from unhealthy foods to healthy alternatives fruit or home-cooked meals instead. For instance, there are some countries which have already tried and succeeded, countries like France and the United Kingdom, they introduced taxes on processed food products, as a result, consumption was reduced.

However, others argue that manufactured food and beverages are vital for lower earners and introducing new taxes can impact them. And this can be seen as government interfering in people's lives. In addition, taxes can not solve the issue right away, there are some better options that exist which government can adopt such as spreading awareness and promoting education about health and detrimental to health food products in public. For example, government institutions can begin awareness campaigns in educational institutions, corporations and public places.

In conclusion, after briefly and thoroughly examining both points about making manufactured food and drink products expensive through taxes. I firmly think that government should focus on this industry and impose additional taxes.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, presenting a clear position in favor of taxing sugary products. The ideas are relevant, such as the mention of France and the UK as examples of successful implementation. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. While the counter-argument is acknowledged, it is not fully explored, and the conclusion is a bit abrupt. To reach a higher band, you should expand on the 'why' and 'how' of your arguments with more detailed explanations or hypothetical scenarios, ensuring that the link between the tax and the desired health outcome is more robustly articulated.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the main arguments. You use some cohesive devices like 'To begin with,' 'Furthermore,' and 'However,' which help the flow. However, some transitions feel a bit mechanical, and there are minor issues with sentence-level cohesion, such as the comma splice in the second paragraph: '...United Kingdom, they introduced taxes...'. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that sentences are connected more fluidly would enhance the overall coherence of the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'detrimental,' 'manufactured,' and 'excessive.' There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, though some collocations are slightly unnatural, such as 'detrimental to health food products' (should be 'foods that are detrimental to health'). The vocabulary is generally sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, but it lacks the precision and sophistication required for higher bands. Focusing on more precise word choices and natural collocations will help improve your score in this area.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While your meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors, such as 'taxes can not solve the issue right away, there are some better options' (a comma splice) and 'government interfering' (should be 'government interference'). Additionally, there are some missing articles (e.g., 'in public' instead of 'in public places'). While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. You should focus on proofreading for subject-verb agreement and proper punctuation between independent clauses.

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

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