Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-15

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 5.0)

In this 21st century where everyone is running for the jobs, businesses or free lancing jobs. People do not have time to cook for themselves and for families. Everyone is running behind the time. So they forcefully have to eat frozen food or have to order food from restaurant.

Although, there are advantages and disadvatges of restaurants and convenience food, The main advantage having frozen food is required less time to prepare it and it is easy to make.

So in this hectic and busy scheduled for the work, people are usually tired and do not have time to cook proper meal, so they depends on frozen foods or they will oder food from restaurnats.

On the other side, Being ready to eat foods have distict disadvantage that they are sometimes tasteless and being a frozen food, it has a lot of calories. The restaurant foods are more delicious but other side has more calories because they are using different type and cheaper oil and more oil fried food.

However, I am also eating food from outside restaurants in few days as sometimes i feel very tired to cook food and sometime we need to change the taste of mouth. But i got more calories so eventually it incresed my weight.

In conclusion, i strongly belive that home-cooked foods are the best in terms of taste and healthy. Also it gives less cost on your pocket, you are going to save more money compare to buying food from restaurants. While the frozen foods or packed meals are more costly and unhealthy.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of eating restaurant and convenience food. The writer's position is generally clear throughout the text, identifying points such as time-saving benefits alongside disadvantages like high calories and cost. However, the ideas are somewhat repetitive and under-developed, relying on simple assertions rather than fully elaborated examples. For instance, sentences like 'So they forcefully have to eat frozen food' show limited depth in exploring the socio-economic drivers behind convenience eating. While all parts of the task are touched upon, the arguments lack rigorous extension and tend to generalise broadly. This performance aligns best with the band 5 descriptors, where the task is addressed, but ideas remain somewhat limited and repetitive.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay demonstrates some overall organisation, attempting to separate advantages and disadvantages into different paragraphs. However, paragraphing is irregular and sometimes mixes contrasting ideas within the same block, as seen in the third paragraph where disadvantages are introduced immediately after advantages. Cohesive devices are used awkwardly or repetitively, such as the overuse of phrases like 'So' and 'on the other side'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, and logical progression between sentences is disrupted by abrupt transitions and run-on structures. There is no clear overall progression of argument, which places the coherence of the essay within the band 5 category, reflecting inadequate and repetitive cohesive devices alongside basic paragraphing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student uses a limited vocabulary range that is minimally adequate for discussing the topic of food and lifestyle. Words and phrases such as 'running for the jobs', 'free lancing jobs', and 'change the taste of mouth' demonstrate awkward collocations and non-standard phrasing. There are noticeable lexical errors, such as 'disadvatges', 'oder', and 'restaurnats', which detract from the overall flow. While the writer attempts some less common vocabulary items like 'convenience food' and 'hectic', control over word choice and spelling is weak. These frequent inaccuracies and limited flexibility mean the vocabulary profile sits firmly at band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay relies heavily on simple sentences and basic structures, with attempts at complex forms often resulting in grammatical errors. Examples include 'In this 21st century where everyone is running for the jobs...', which is a sentence fragment, and 'it has a lot of calories... more side has more calories because they are using different type and cheaper oil'. There are numerous errors in subject-verb agreement, article usage, and prepositions, such as 'in few days' instead of 'every few days' and 'it gives less cost on your pocket'. These frequent grammatical errors cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect a limited range of structures, corresponding to a band 5.

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

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