Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)
To begin with, the majority of people depend on restaurants and convenience stores for frozen food and packaged food instead of homemade food to supply most of their meals. There are many merits and demerits of eating food outside. Which I will dicuss in the upcoming paragraphs.
First of all, eating fast food is going fast rather than home-cooked food it has many benefits. These days, most of the people have busy schedules; they have no time to make food at home, which is why they prefer restaurant food because it is too easy to take and tasty. Many outlets operate late or even 24/7, ensuring that meals are available whenever hunger strikes, which is particularly useful for night workers, travellers, and students.
On the other hand, it has many demerits. Firstly, eating fast food regularly is strongly associated with obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol due to its high content of unhealthy fats, sugars, and sodium. Over time, these dietary habits can increase the risk of chronic illnesses, reduce life expectancy, and contribute to metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance and blood sugar spikes. Fast food is also linked to digestive issues like bloating, constipation, and indigestion, as well as reduced energy levels and poor concentration due to insufficient nutrient intake.
Overall, although eating fast food at restaurants is conveient but, it has a lot of disadvantages because it is harmful to people's health.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of relying on restaurants and convenience food. However, there are two notable issues. First, the text is under length, containing only 241 words against the minimum requirement of 250 words, which incurs a penalty. Second, the development of the advantages section is somewhat limited and brief compared to the detailed health-related disadvantages. While the writer touches upon busy schedules and 24/7 availability, the ideas lack full extension and robust real-world examples. The position is clear, but the imbalance in development and the failure to meet the word count limitation place this criterion at band 5.5.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The essay is organised into introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs, displaying a basic structural framework. However, coherence is hindered by major formatting and sentence boundary errors. Notably, the sentence "Which I will dicuss in the upcoming paragraphs." is a fragment that incorrectly isolates a relative clause. Furthermore, paragraphing is disrupted by placing both advantages and the introduction into a single block, while disadvantages occupy another. Cohesive devices such as 'First of all', 'On the other hand', and 'Overall' are used, but their mechanical deployment does not entirely compensate for the structural flaws and lack of smooth overall progression. This fits the band 5.0 descriptor profile well.
Lexical Resource — Band 6.0
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully employing topic-specific terms such as 'obesity', 'type 2 diabetes', 'metabolic disorders', and 'insulin resistance'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors, including 'dicuss' instead of 'discuss' and 'conveient' instead of 'convenient'. The writer attempts less common vocabulary, but repetition of phrases like 'eating fast food' limits the range and flexibility. While communication is not impeded by these lexical limitations, the frequent spelling slips and occasional awkward phrasing prevent the response from reaching a higher band, aligning it securely with a band 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some ability to structure longer sentences, such as 'Many outlets operate late or even 24/7, ensuring that meals are available whenever hunger strikes...'. However, grammatical control is inconsistent. There are major sentence boundary errors, such as a sentence fragment ('Which I will dicuss in the upcoming paragraphs.') and a run-on sentence structure in '...eating fast food is going fast rather than home-cooked food it has many benefits.' Furthermore, a punctuation error occurs in the conclusion: '...is conveient but, it has a lot of disadvantages...'. Due to these frequent errors in complex structures, a band 5.5 is appropriate.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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