Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-22

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 6.5)

Numerous processed foods and beverages contain excessive amount of sugar which leads to certain diet-related health concerns.It is often argued that taxes should be imposed on these products to deter consumption.I partially agree with this viewpoint, along with some duties on these products, public awareness and the availability of reasonably priced fresh fruits and vegetables should be made possible for the consumers.

To begin with, introducing levies on sugary food items, is a step in right direction but not a standalone solution.Processed foods are cheaper to buy,many low- income families are depending on these foods for sustenance. Making these food items expensive will put extra financial strain on these people leaving them with no option for alternatives as fresh produce is not affordable for everyone in society.Additionally, processed foods are often ready-to-eat,saving working class sufficient time to cook,which leads to the increase in sales of canned foods.For instance, a can of soup and pop can save significant time of cooking for a student ,making it their first choice to buy.

To find more effective deterrent for high sugary foods, government must introduce viable laws.Entertaining small amount of tax on these junk foods will generate some revenue, which can be channeled to subsidize agriculture sector to excel affordable produce in the markets,ensuring every individual can afford healthy food.Furthermore, schools and governments to work collaboratively to introduce mandatory health education and cooking classes. Youngsters should be taught in schools to take care of their health by cooking and eating healthy.Additionally government can advertise commercials promoting healthy eating habits and prohibiting junk and fast food advertisments.

In conclusion, although making fast foods expensive can be an effective deterrent,but can not be taken as a sole option in right direction.Commercials educating all spheres of ages,governments incentives towards making nutritious foods easy to access ,instilling healthy dietary habits from the young age in schools cumulatively to form a healthy society.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response7.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy6.0
Overall6.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by taking a clear position of partial agreement and exploring both the economic consequences of sugar taxes on lower-income families and alternative solutions like education and subsidies. For example, the student notes that 'introducing levies on sugary food items, is a step in right direction but not a standalone solution' and expands on this by mentioning financial strain and the need for fresh produce affordability. The ideas are generally well developed and supported with examples such as 'a can of soup and pop'. However, the development could be slightly more rigorous in places to achieve a higher band, as some arguments regarding working-class time constraints are somewhat compressed. Overall, the task is handled well.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay demonstrates a clear overall progression and logical organisation. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, two body paragraphs discussing different facets of the argument, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed to link ideas, such as 'To begin with', 'Additionally', 'For instance', and 'In conclusion'. However, there are minor cohesion and referencing flaws, such as missing spaces after punctuation marks throughout the text (e.g., 'concerns.It', 'direction.Processed') and awkward phrasing in the final sentence ('cumulatively to form a healthy society'), which make the flow slightly mechanical at times.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully using terms such as 'sustenance', 'financial strain', 'subsidize', and 'deterrent'. There are attempts to use less common items with general awareness of collocation. However, there are also noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'Entertaining small amount of tax' instead of 'Imposing a small amount of tax' or 'excel affordable produce' instead of 'make affordable produce accessible'. Spelling is generally acceptable, but lexical control is inconsistent, placing this squarely in the band 6 territory.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over conditional and subordinate clauses (e.g., 'making these food items expensive will put extra financial strain...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation lapses, notably the consistent omission of spaces after commas and periods (e.g., 'food items, is', 'solution.Processed'), missing articles (e.g., 'in right direction', 'to excel affordable produce in markets'), and awkward structural fragments, such as in the concluding sentence which lacks a main verb. These errors occasionally disrupt the reading flow but do not completely impede overall communication.

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

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