Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-10

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 6.0)

In modern world, everyone is dependent on fast food industry. People like to consume packaged meals instead of fresh ones and homemade meals. Various types of restaurants and supermarkets provide both healthy and unhealthy options, but being busy in everyday life people started to avoid regular meals as well.

The advantage of these meals are that they are ready to eat, so it saves a lot of time. Individuals who do not have much more time for preparing their food, can go for these. The another advantage of these meals is it saves effort. There are many students, employees who wants to save their energy for another tasks, so they prefer to buy prepared food.

There are various disadvantages of these meals such as freshness, preservatives and others. These type of meals have expiry dates, which means the ingredients used to prepare these packs are not fresh. They were stored, transported and were in shelves for more than a year sometimes. To look them alike fresh, companies use many preservatives, which are not meant to be heavily consumed for a human body. The another disadvantage of this is that they can provide convenience and one time energy to public but they can’t provide them a good and healthy lifestyle.

In conclusion, i believe that homemade meals are better than buying the prepackaged ones. There are more negative impacts of these more than the positive ones. Homemade meals also increase the bond between the members in a house, and a person can live a healthy and better life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both the advantages and disadvantages of relying on convenience food. The position is clear throughout, and the main ideas—time-saving and convenience versus health concerns and lack of freshness—are relevant. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the discussion on preservatives and health could be extended with more specific examples or a deeper analysis of the long-term societal impacts. While the task is fully addressed, the supporting arguments remain at a somewhat general level, which prevents the response from reaching a higher band. Overall, the response is balanced and meets the requirements of the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with a clear introduction, body paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'The advantage of', 'The another advantage', and 'In conclusion'. However, some of these devices are used mechanically or incorrectly, such as 'The another advantage', which is grammatically awkward. Referencing is generally clear, but the flow between sentences could be improved to sound more natural. The paragraphing is appropriate, and the progression of ideas is easy to follow, though the transitions between points could be more sophisticated.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There is an attempt to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'preservatives', 'packaged meals', and 'fast food industry'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are instances of awkward word choice or collocation, such as 'one time energy' and 'look them alike fresh'. While the meaning is always clear, the lack of variety and occasional inaccuracies in word choice suggest a band 6 level. Expanding the range of synonyms and collocations would significantly improve the quality of the writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While many sentences are clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as 'In modern world' (missing article), 'The advantage of these meals are' (subject-verb agreement), and 'The another advantage' (incorrect determiner). Additionally, there are punctuation and phrasing issues, such as 'wants to save' (should be 'want' to agree with plural subjects) and 'impacts of these more than'. These errors are noticeable but do not impede communication. To improve, the writer should focus on subject-verb agreement, article usage, and refining complex sentence structures.

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

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