Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-15

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 contemporary society, the consumption of food and drinks containing a high concentration of sugar has become increasingly popular. Some people believe it may lead to various health problems and should be reduced by increasing the prices of those products, while others believe it can be controlled by proper counselling and awareness from healthcare professionals.

One of the main advantages of introducing taxation is that it would be less affordable for low and middle-income families. Consequently, the consumption patterns would be lowered among half the population. In addition, the intake of food and drinks containing refined sugar is high due to a fast-paced lifestyle as people get less time to prepare proper healthy meals, Resultantly, their trend towards fast food increases. By imposing taxes, people would automatically choose healthy alternatives.

On the other hand, proper awareness has a significant role to play. By this, I mean governments can conduct seminars and morning shows by inviting healthcare professionals and require them to spread awareness among people. This would be quite beneficial because people tend to be influenced by the well-educated personalities and would change the way people think. Secondly, governments can reduce the prices of healthy and organic products. This would not only reduces the intake of food among people but also shifts people's interest towards healthy options.

In my opinion, although taxation can lessen the consumption of products containing high amount of carbs, I believe a balanced approach should be considered by imposing taxes and raising awareness among people.

All things considered, imposing taxes can be beneficial in lowering the intake of food having high sugar, while its combination with proper counselling would produce a more productive outcome.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task and presents a clear position throughout. The writer explores both the economic mechanism of taxation and the alternative perspective of awareness-raising, developing ideas with relevant examples such as government seminars and reducing the prices of organic foods. However, the prompt specifically asks whether sugary products *should* be made more expensive to encourage lower consumption (agree/disagree). While the student eventually states a balanced view in the conclusion, the body paragraphs slightly misinterpret the prompt by introducing a completely separate debate in the introduction about counselling from healthcare professionals rather than sticking purely to the agreement/disagreement with taxation. Despite this slight shifting of focus, the main arguments regarding sugar consumption are adequately extended and supported, warranting a solid Band 6.5 to 7.0 range. Awarding a 6.5 because the stance on the core prompt question is somewhat diluted by the introduction of secondary arguments.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt at logical progression. The essay is divided into distinct paragraphs, each handling a different facet of the argument, such as the advantages of taxation, the role of awareness, and the final opinion. Cohesive devices are employed to guide the reader, including phrases like 'One of the main advantages', 'In addition', 'On the other hand', and 'Secondly'. However, there are some mechanical transitions and awkward cohesive links, such as starting a sentence with 'By this, I mean' and a fragmented causal transition 'Resultantly, their trend towards fast food increases.' Paragraphing is used sufficiently, but referencing and logical flow occasionally stutter due to minor organizational issues. Overall, the text fits the Band 6 descriptors well, showing a logical structure with some faulty or mechanical cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating less common lexical items such as 'contemporary society', 'concentration of sugar', 'consumption patterns', 'fast-paced lifestyle', and 'organic products'. There are, however, some noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and phrasing, such as 'the intake of food among people' instead of 'overall food intake' and the repetitive use of 'spread awareness'. Furthermore, there is a minor grammatical-lexical slip with 'high amount of carbs' instead of 'high amounts of carbohydrates'. Spelling and word formation are generally accurate, and vocabulary errors do not impede communication. The lexical resource aligns well with the criteria for Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at conditional structures and relative clauses, such as 'By imposing taxes, people would automatically choose healthy alternatives' and 'While taxation can lessen the consumption... I believe a balanced approach...'. There are several grammatical errors and awkward structures throughout the essay, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'This would not only reduces the intake', capitalization errors such as starting a sentence with 'Resultantly,', and a tense/agreement slip in 'would change the way people think' following a past-leaning description. Punctuation is generally acceptable, and while errors are present, they rarely impede overall communication. This performance fits comfortably into the Band 6 descriptor band.

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