Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-13

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 today's dynamic world, people are significantly dependent on processed meals or frozen food due to their hectic schedule. Although, this trend has a few benefits but large number of disadvantages. In this essay, I will cover merits and demerits of eating processed food.

The first and foremost benefits of eating out is a time saving. This is because when everyone in the family working longer hours, spend extra time to complete their tasks, they prefer to eat outside at hotel, restaurant to save time and energy which they have to spend on cooking at home.Moreover, convenience food is less expensive as compare to home-made food. The packaged meals generally processed in manufacturing companies where everything is cooked on large quantity, as a result the overall cost of the meals comparatively less. For instance, in the grocery store frozen food is always cheaper than fresh food beacuse that is processed in large quantity and not easily get expired.

In contrast, there are number of disadvantages of eating processed food or eating out. Firstly, eating this way can cause health related issues. The processed food contain different types of preservatives, chemicals to make food fresh and tasty for longer period of time. Continuous use of such kinds of food can cause obesity, cardiovascular issue and fatty liver. For instance, when I moved to Canada, I was mostly relied on fast food, easy to cook meals which cause negative impact on my physical health which include obesity and fatty liver. In addition, eating outside regularly can put burden on financial budget as restaurant food is comapratively expensive as compare to home-made meals.

To conclude, while eating outside can save time and money, but continuous consuming of restaurants and processed food can cause health related issues and financial crisis.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, covering both advantages and disadvantages. The position is clear throughout, and the ideas are relevant. However, the development of ideas is somewhat uneven. While the health consequences are well-supported with a personal example, the financial argument is contradictory; you mention convenience food is cheaper in the second paragraph but then claim it is a burden on the budget in the third. This inconsistency weakens the overall argument. To reach a higher band, ensure that your supporting points are consistent and fully explored without contradicting previous claims.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a central theme. You use cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'In contrast', and 'Firstly' to guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally imprecise. For example, the use of 'this trend' in the introduction is clear, but the flow between the financial benefits and the financial disadvantages is abrupt, making the argument feel disjointed. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring a smoother progression of ideas between paragraphs would enhance the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'dynamic world', 'cardiovascular issue', and 'preservatives'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'not easily get expired' (should be 'do not expire easily') and 'continuous consuming' (should be 'continuous consumption'). These errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the precision of your expression. To improve, focus on learning common collocations and using more sophisticated synonyms for basic words like 'good' or 'bad' to show a wider, more flexible range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While you attempt complex sentences, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with articles ('the grocery store', 'a time saving'), subject-verb agreement ('processed food contain'), and prepositions ('as compare to' instead of 'compared to'). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are minor errors, such as the comma splice in the conclusion ('...save time and money, but continuous...'). While these errors rarely impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focus on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy, especially regarding article usage and comparative structures.

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