Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-29

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)

In current times,many people depend on restaurants and packaged food rather than home-cooked food to add most of their meals. It has some advantages and disadvantages, I will discuss in the following paragraphs.

The major benefit is that it is convenient because working people do not have enough time to cook food at home. They prefer to buy frozen food and store it for longer period. Also, it saves time, people do not need to do grocery on daily basis and utilize thier time in valuable things and can save travel expenses as well as efforts. As a result, restaurants and packaged food play an important role in people's life.

Moreover, restaurants and convenience food is useful for people who have limited cooking skills. They can easily prepare meals follow the instructions on the packaged and prepared food with little efforts. They do not need to rely on others and can easily get their food from them. So, it is beneficial for eveybody.

However, the main disadvantage is that frozen food has unhealthy ingredients, many packaged food contains high amount of sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, and preservatives, which can negatively affect health. Also, it increases health issues such as obesity and heart problems. It is good for their health if they prepare their food at home.

Futhermore, it is more expensive rather than home-cooked food. Some ready-to-eat or branded packaged foods cost more than preapring similar meals using fresh ingredients. They are paying not only for the ingredients but also for the packaging, processing, transportation, and brand. In contrast, buying fresh ingredients and cooking at home can often be cheaper.

In conclusion, although packaged food offers several benefits, such as convenience and easy prepration but it has some drawbacks, including higher costs and potential health concerns. Therefore people should consume packaged food in moderation and choose fresh, nutritious meals whenever possible.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The student 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 response, concluding with a balanced recommendation. Ideas are extended and supported with relevant explanations regarding convenience, health implications, and financial costs. For instance, the discussion on health outlines specific negative ingredients such as sugar, salt, and preservatives, which illustrates the disadvantages effectively. However, some arguments, such as the benefit of limited cooking skills, are slightly brief and could have been further elaborated with a concrete example. Overall, the response meets the requirements for Band 6.5, leaning towards Band 7 for addressing all parts clearly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response is logically organised into distinct paragraphs with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed to guide the reader through the text, such as 'The major benefit', 'Moreover', 'However', and 'Furthermore'. However, paragraphing and referencing occasionally exhibit minor flaws, such as the comma splice in the introduction ('It has some advantages and disadvantages, I will discuss...') and somewhat repetitive transitional phrases. Paragraph breaks are utilised appropriately to separate contrasting points. The logical progression is clear overall, justifying a Band 6.5 score.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range suitable for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms such as 'convenience food', 'frozen food', 'packaged meals', 'nutritious meals', and 'preservatives'. There are, however, several word choice and collocation inaccuracies throughout the text, such as 'add most of their meals' instead of 'supply most of their meals', 'do grocery' instead of 'do grocery shopping', and 'more expensive rather than' instead of 'more expensive than'. Spelling is generally accurate, but minor slips occur. The lexical range is sufficient to communicate meaning clearly, but errors prevent it from reaching a higher band, placing it firmly at Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The student employs a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional or relative clauses like 'people who have limited cooking skills' and 'foods cost more than preparing similar meals'. There are, nevertheless, frequent grammatical errors and punctuation slips throughout the response. Examples include missing articles ('packaged and prepared food' instead of 'packaged and prepared foods', 'on daily basis' instead of 'on a daily basis'), subject-verb agreement issues ('many packaged food contains' instead of 'many packaged foods contain'), and punctuation errors like comma splices. While these errors do not severely impede communication, they recur frequently enough to prevent the writing from achieving a Band 7.

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