Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-17

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)

Many individuals are highly depended on processed food rather than consuming healthy home made food. This aspect has a lot of negative sides rather than positive sides. The idea could be more convenient in this fast pacing life however it has negative impact on overall health of an individual.

Nowadays, people buy ready to eat food because they do not have sufficient time to cook for themselves. Especially, the working individuals exhausted after work will choose a option which will be more convenient for them. For example, a working women in family arrives late at home and would not be able to cook after a long working hours will order something from restaurants to save her time.

On the other side, the disadvantages of these trend has numerous impacts on our health. The foods processed for frozen preparations has undergone so many different methods to last it for longer time. These unhygienic treatments with the edibles make them harmful to consume and it will have detrimental effects on our overall well-being.

Furthermore, Individuals are suffering from several health issues because of consumption of wide range of products. Many products in the market contains preservatives which is indirectly affecting the health. For instance, Some research concluded that use of edible colors causes hormonal imbalances in women that leads to fertility problems in later life.

In conclusion, disadvantages outweigh the advantage. Home made food prepared under proper hygienic conditions is a better choice than relying on the convenient food. Those foods have several bad health outcomes.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall6.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of eating restaurant and convenience food, taking a clear overall position that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. The ideas are generally relevant, but the development is somewhat uneven. While the essay touches on reasons like time constraints and health impacts, some points remain under-developed. For instance, the advantage side is briefly mentioned through a working woman example, but it lacks broader exploration. The discussion on health is supported with examples such as edible colors causing hormonal imbalances, yet the overall reasoning could be more fully extended to reach a higher band level. It successfully addresses all parts of the task in a straightforward manner, earning a solid score in this category.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately, with distinct body paragraphs focusing on reasons for eating convenience food, health disadvantages, and specific health issues. However, the progression between ideas is sometimes slightly mechanical, and cohesive devices are basic or repetitive, as seen in phrases like 'On the other side' and 'Furthermore'. Referencing is generally clear, though occasional transitional lapses occur, such as the abrupt shift into the final conclusion. Overall, the organizational structure is logical enough to guide the reader easily through the arguments presented.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'convenience food', 'hormonal imbalances', and 'detrimental effects'. However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, form, and collocation throughout the text. Examples include 'depended' instead of 'dependent', 'home made' instead of 'homemade', 'fast pacing life' instead of 'fast-paced life', and 'working women' when referring to a singular individual. Furthermore, phrasing like 'last it for longer time' lacks natural fluency. While these errors do not severely impede communication, they reflect a limited control over more sophisticated vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt at varied structures such as relative clauses and conditional-like phrasing. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in verb forms, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions, including 'exhausted after work will choose a option', 'arrive late at home and would not be able', and 'the disadvantages of these trend has'. Punctuation and article usage also show recurrent slips. Although these errors rarely impede overall communication, the presence of frequent grammatical inaccuracies places the writing firmly in the mid-range for this criterion.

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

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