Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-03

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

A growing number of people rely on restaurants and convenience food (frozen food and packaged meals) rather than home-cooked food to supply most of their meals.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of eating this way?

Give reasons for your answer, and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 6.5)

In the present scenario, eating habits have been changed rapidly. Most of the people love to eat outdoors but some of them want to eat home made food. Eating from restaurants causes many disadvantages or advantages which i will discuss in upcoming structure of writing.

Firstly, the packed food is consumed by the people who have hectic schedules. For few days it is ok but for long term relying on these foods would be dangerous for health. For example, if an employee who have sitting job of long hours it is hard to digest for them. Secondly, it contains a lot of preservatives or chemicals which affects the health negatively. Thirdly, it can make a person lethargic or obese which could be a serious problem to gain more weight. Therefore, packed food is harmful.

Furthermore, it has few advantages, like it is easy to prepare or time saving.To exemplify, if an office employee have no time for cooking they can carry some frozen food use microwave and can eat it in office. Moreover, food from restaurants satisfy cravings and provides internal satisfaction. To elucidate, if anyone working in busy sectors like healthcare and engineering they can order food outside and eat it or satisfy their cravings or perform well in their workplaces. Additionally, sometime it can save money. For instance, if a person wants to cook something he/she have to buy oil, vegetables, spices and many more to give a final look to a dish. Online buying made it so simple by ordering a specific amount of food in cheap prices.

To conclude, after having these thoughts and deliberation we can say packed food have some benefits but dark side of picture cannot be ignored. To stay healthy individuals should adapt healthy eating habits.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses both the advantages and disadvantages of relying on convenience food. The position is clear, and the ideas are relevant. However, the development is somewhat limited; for instance, the point about saving money is asserted but not fully explained, as the comparison between cooking from scratch and ordering out is logically weak. The structure is functional, but the arguments could be more deeply explored to reach a higher band. Overall, the response covers all parts of the prompt adequately, though some points are slightly under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', 'Furthermore', and 'To conclude' are used to guide the reader. However, some transitions are mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally repetitive. The progression of ideas is generally clear, but the flow between sentences could be smoother. The paragraphing is appropriate, and the overall structure supports the development of the argument effectively.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to convey their ideas clearly. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'hectic schedules', 'lethargic', and 'deliberation'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'sitting job' (sedentary job) and 'cheap prices' (low prices). While these errors do not impede communication, they limit the range and precision of the language. A wider variety of topic-specific vocabulary would help elevate the score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('if an employee who have', 'if an office employee have') and article usage ('the packed food', 'the dark side of picture'). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are some missing commas and awkward phrasing. While the errors are frequent, they rarely impede the reader's understanding of the main points. To improve, the writer should focus on subject-verb agreement and the correct use of articles.

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