Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-18

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)

It is true that most of the food and drink products are rich in sugar content, which imposes serious health problems on people. People often believe that raising prices of these sugar products leads to decreased their consumption. I agree with this statement because price is a key factor shaping demand among consumers, and at the same time additional sugar intake is not mandatory for our body's normal functioning.

On the one hand, increasing price of these sugar enriched products can act as a good strategy to reduce their intake. This is because all the consumers check the price of any items before they buy, where they only purchase those items with whose price they are comfortable with. So if the prices of sugar items are expensive, it develops a sense of difficulty among people to buy them, making them choose other items over sugar. For example, in past times, Red Bull was one of the most consumed drink in Nepal with its lower price. However, the demand declined steadily in recent days with an increase in its price.

On the other hand, the fact that sugar products are not the basic necessity of our regular health and metabolism creates no problem in increasing its price. This is because if it was a significant item like salt, increasing its price would be one of the poorest ideas, as this approach would make it difficult for people with low income to buy an item without which their life cannot be sustained. Due to this reason too, there won't arise any barrier from the government and concerned authorities to make the sugar products more expensive.

Thus, making drinks and products loaded with sugar more expensive with the consent of government helps to control their consumption among consumers.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task directly and presents a clear position throughout, agreeing that sugary products should be made more expensive. The main ideas are extended and supported with relevant explanations and examples, such as the mention of Red Bull consumption in Nepal. While the arguments are generally well-developed, some points tend to over-generalise or lean slightly simplistic in their reasoning, which places the essay firmly at a Band 7 level. The writer successfully maintains a consistent stance from the introduction through to the conclusion, fulfilling the core requirements of Task Achievement without significant omissions.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay displays a clear overall progression and logical organisation. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, two body paragraphs representing different aspects of the argument, and a concise conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed to connect ideas, such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'This is because', although some referencing is slightly repetitive or mechanical, particularly the frequent use of 'This is because'. Overall, the logical flow is maintained throughout, ensuring the reader can easily follow the writer's line of reasoning, which aligns well with the Band 7 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow some flexibility and precision, using terms like 'mandatory', 'metabolism', 'sustained', and 'consumption'. However, there are noticeable lexical and collocational inaccuracies throughout the text, such as 'leads to decreased their consumption' instead of 'leads to a decrease in consumption' and 'sugar enriched products' instead of 'sugar-rich products'. Less common items are attempted with varying degrees of success, but overall errors in word choice and phrasing prevent the essay from reaching a higher band, making Band 6.0 an accurate reflection of the lexical control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at subordination and relative clauses. However, there are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings present, including 'most of the food and drink products are rich' (article misuse), 'raising prices of these sugar products leads to decreased their consumption' (grammatical mismatch), and 'if it was a significant item' (conditional error). While these errors occur with some frequency, they rarely impede communication, as the meaning remains clear. This balance of mixed structures and persistent errors fits the Band 6 criteria.

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