Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-12

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)

Nowadays, packaged food and go-to places has become increasingly popular all over the world. Although it is more convenient which saves time, it has adversly effect on our overall well-being which creates many health issues. This essay will examine the both merits and demerits adopting this popular trend.

To commence with, there are numerous advantages of extremely reliant on restaurants and other ready-to-eat food. Firstly, it can save our time which is quite cruical today for everyone. Home-made food requires a great proprtion of time to prepare complete dishes, and moreover, a large amount of efforts, which sometimes waste the people's time and energy. As a result, people can utilize that time by giving to their hobbies, office work, and some leisure activities, which make them more productive and efficient. Secondly, packaged meals provide a delicious taste as it prepared by professional chef, which sometimes quite challenging for ordinary people. Hence, these benefits make this trend more convenient and prominent in today's world.

On the other hand, there are some drawbacks by adopting these kinds of habits. First of all, it can leads to various health problems such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, stomach infections,and even some chronic diseases. Frozen or packaged food contributes to the sedentary lifestyle, which overall affects the mental and physical development. Moreover, home-cooked food is more hygenic and fresh as compared to resturants food because they usually add different kinds of spices, and sometimes include poor ingredients and produce.

In India, for instance, people, especially teenagers, are more reliant on fast food, which contributes to the obesity concern and other chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and asthma.

While many people choose pacakged food to save their time and avoid any incovenience, the home-prepared food is generally more beneficial or sustainable for our overall well-being, which offers certain health-related benefits such as organic food may protect people from chronic illness, and reduces the mental stress.

To conclude, although there are some advantages to pursue this kind of lifrestyle, the disadvantages ourtweigh the advantages. Therefore, home-made food is generally more healthier and effective for long-run.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The candidate successfully addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of relying on restaurants and convenience food. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay, stating that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Main ideas are extended and supported with relevant examples, such as the mention of teenagers in India facing health concerns like obesity and diabetes. While some arguments are slightly generalised, the task is comprehensively answered and the ideas are well-developed, aligning well with the Band 7 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The response presents a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. The essay is divided into appropriate paragraphs, starting with a clear introduction, followed by distinct body paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a concluding summary. Cohesive devices such as 'To commence with', 'On the other hand', and 'For instance' are used to connect ideas, although there are minor mechanical transitions. Referencing is generally clear, and paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, which strongly supports a Band 7 score.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary with some flexibility and precision, incorporating terms such as 'cardiovascular diseases', 'sedentary lifestyle', and 'sustainable'. However, there are several word choice and spelling inaccuracies, such as 'adversly effect' instead of 'adverse effect', 'cruical' instead of 'crucial', 'proprtion', 'hygenic', and 'resturants'. These errors do not impede communication, but they prevent the essay from reaching a higher band, placing it firmly at Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues in 'packaged food and go-to places has become', faulty structures like 'there are numerous advantages of extremely reliant', and incorrect preposition usage. Punctuation errors also appear occasionally. These errors mean the text cannot achieve a Band 7, but because communication is rarely impeded, a Band 6 is well-earned.

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