Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)
Numerous packed food and drink goods contain more level of sugar, which create many health issues. sugar products should be made more costly to encourage consumer to consume least sugar. I largely disagree with the given notion. The narrative ahead shall articulate justification for my belief before arriving to a rational conclusion.
To begin with the reason to support my argument, this kind of increase in sugary products can also increase the price of sugar and raw material such as sugarcane. This is because, distributers sell sugar at same price to those food and drink company as well as to a local buyer, so middle class people find bit of difficulty to buy sugar. As a result, it also affect the economy of particular notion and many people use less sugar in cooking. To site an example, sugar prices in India are increasing nowadays
Furthermore, those people who are addicted to kind of sugar drinks can still buy drinks at high price. This is largely because, those consumers want to consume drink for kick and food for that special taste, so he can buy at any cost. As a result, those company can generate high revenue and make more profit. For instance, many companies like KFC and redbull are very popular for their food and drink
To sum up, taking the above mentioned reasons into consideration, I restate my disagreement the increase in price can affect poor individuals kitchen and also still people buying those highly contained sugar drinks and food
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position against the proposed tax. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. The argument regarding the impact on the price of raw sugar is slightly tangential, as the prompt focuses on manufactured products rather than raw ingredients. The second argument regarding addiction is more relevant but lacks depth in explaining why the tax would fail to curb consumption beyond a simple mention of 'kick' and 'taste'. To improve, you should focus more on the socio-economic implications of such a tax and provide more nuanced reasoning.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is organised into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or inaccurate, such as 'To begin with the reason to support my argument' and 'The narrative ahead shall articulate'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, particularly in the conclusion where the sentence structure becomes fragmented. While there is an overall logical progression, the transitions between sentences could be smoother and more varied to improve the flow of the argument.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and variety required for a higher band. There are several instances of awkward phrasing and incorrect word choices, such as 'packed food' instead of 'processed food', 'more level of sugar' instead of 'higher levels of sugar', and 'particular notion' instead of 'particular nation'. The range is somewhat limited, relying on basic descriptors. To improve, focus on learning collocations related to economics and health, and ensure you use words in their correct context.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('distributers sell... as well as to a local buyer'), article usage ('the increase in price can affect poor individuals kitchen'), and awkward sentence construction ('those company can generate high revenue'). While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of these errors prevents the writing from reaching a higher band. Focusing on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy would be highly beneficial.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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