Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-08-20

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 5.5)

IN the recent time, number of people to trust on restaurants and stored food instead of home made food to supply most of theor meals .i will discuss merits and demerits in the upcoming paragraphs with the relevant example.

To set the wheels is in motion, there are several benefits behind the frozen food and packed food cooked easy rather than home-cooked food . To justify it, everyone busy in their life ,they have no enough time to make a food at home then they have bought a packaged food from stores when they came back home and they cooked frozen food in the airfryer within minutes . As a result, they save their time and money .

On the contrary, although there are plethora of drawbacks of the stored food . First and foremost , frozen and canned food is not good for health. To explain it, when we eat convenience food or packaged food ,we face more dangers diseases in the older age . For instance, i conducted a survey in 2023 in Edmonton , they showed 70% of people who suffered from cancer disease because they are eating more red meat their in dinner .As a result, when they face these type of disease after that some people which are not proper treatment due to this , they have no enough money.

TO conclude, i agree with this statement because frozen food cooked easy and timly, but it is not good for health because we deal with different type of diseases in older age.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both the advantages and disadvantages of convenience food. However, the development of ideas is limited. While you mention time-saving as an advantage, the explanation is repetitive and lacks depth. Regarding the disadvantages, the link between convenience food and specific diseases like cancer is asserted without a clear logical connection, and the example provided (a survey in Edmonton) feels forced and lacks credibility in this context. To improve, ensure that your arguments are fully extended with clear, logical reasoning rather than relying on unsupported claims or anecdotal evidence. The position is clear, but the overall development remains basic.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which is a positive step. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or unnatural, such as 'To set the wheels is in motion' and 'To justify it'. These phrases do not function well as logical connectors. Furthermore, the referencing is sometimes unclear, particularly in the final paragraph where the connection between the conclusion and the body paragraphs is slightly disjointed. The progression of ideas is present but lacks the smooth flow required for a higher band. Improving the variety and accuracy of linking words will help the essay read more naturally.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. There are several instances of awkward collocations and word choice errors, such as 'stored food' instead of 'processed food' or 'convenience food', and 'face more dangers diseases'. The phrase 'cooked easy' is grammatically incorrect and lexically weak. You rely on a limited range of vocabulary, repeating terms like 'packaged food' and 'frozen food' frequently. To achieve a higher score, you should aim to use more precise terminology related to nutrition and lifestyle, and work on improving your collocation skills to ensure words sound natural together.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Issues include incorrect article usage ('the recent time'), subject-verb agreement ('number of people to trust'), and awkward phrasing ('they have no enough time'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with unnecessary spaces before commas and periods. While the meaning is generally understandable, the high frequency of errors in basic sentence construction prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. Focusing on sentence structure, verb forms, and basic punctuation rules will significantly improve your accuracy.

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

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