Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-06

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 fast growing era, consuming fast food or pre-planned meals has become increasingly common in modern society. Although this development offers several significant benefits, it also has certain drawbacks. This essay will examine both sides before reaching conclusion.

To begin with the positive side, having packaged meals during day routine chors is considerably predominant for busy employees which leads to save their time and energy effectively. For instance, mostly individuals or students who do not have time to prepare their breakfast and dinner because of busy schedule is enabling them to purchase fast food or eating in restaurants. Hence, They can easily focus on their tasks or meetings without loosing the energy.

Despite these benefits, eating frozen food and packaged meals also have several drawbacks. The most significant disadvantage is obesity or illness. This can result in exacerbating their healthy lifestyle and aggravating sustainable health consequences. Particularly, when they need healthy body in future or in elder age to survive for living. Therefore, the potential negative effects should not be overlooked.

To conclude, Although eating in restaurants has some potential positive effects on the lifestyle of humans, however, serious drawbacks can not be ignored as they can spoil their body as well they can not survive in the future and also

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The essay addresses both advantages and disadvantages, but the development is insufficient. The response is significantly under the 250-word minimum, which limits the depth of the arguments. While you identify time-saving as a benefit and health risks as a drawback, the ideas are not fully extended or supported with specific, convincing examples. Furthermore, the conclusion is incomplete, cutting off mid-sentence, which means the position is not clearly summarised. To improve, you must ensure you meet the word count requirement by elaborating on your points with more detailed explanations and ensuring your essay has a complete structure with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a finished conclusion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the progression of ideas is hindered by the incomplete conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To begin with' and 'Despite these benefits', but some transitions are mechanical or misused, such as in the final paragraph where 'Although' and 'however' are used together redundantly. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and the lack of a finished final sentence disrupts the overall flow and logical development of the argument. Improving the use of linking words and ensuring each paragraph has a clear, complete thought will enhance the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and range required for higher bands. You use some relevant terms like 'obesity', 'exacerbating', and 'convenience food', but there are instances of awkward phrasing and word choice errors, such as 'day routine chors' (chores) and 'mostly individuals'. The repetition of simple structures and the limited variety of vocabulary restrict your score. To improve, focus on using more precise collocations and academic vocabulary. Avoid informal or imprecise phrasing and try to incorporate a wider range of topic-specific terminology to demonstrate a more sophisticated command of the language.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

There is a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but the accuracy is inconsistent. You make several grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('mostly individuals... is enabling') and incorrect word forms ('loosing' instead of 'losing'). Punctuation is also problematic, particularly with the misuse of commas and the incomplete final sentence. While the meaning is generally clear, these frequent errors and the lack of control over complex structures prevent a higher score. Focus on mastering basic sentence construction and proofreading for common errors like subject-verb agreement and spelling to improve your accuracy.

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