Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-09-30

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)

In the contemporary world, fast food and convenience food are being relied by a growing number of individuals to supply most of their meals rather than home-cooked food. This essay will discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of eating this way.

The drawbacks associated with the restaurant and packaged meals are hygiene and health problem. In the restaurants, sometimes workers forget the hygiene protocoals, they do not wash their hands properly or they use the same oil for frying multiple items. Ultimately, this can lead to the food poisoning and other associated health problems. Furthemore, frozen foods and packaged meals contain a numerous amount of preservatives which may be harmful for human health. Moreover, eating substantial fast food can cause obesity and heart-related issues.

There are also multiple advantages of consuming restaurant or convenience meals. Nowadays, people are so busy in their lives that they do not have time to cook food, so these pre-cooked meals help them to save their time. They do not require to dedicate their hours in cooking as these foods get ready to consume in just few minutes. For instance, if someone wants to eat fries, they can get the frozen fries from market easily and just fry them in few minutes. It helps them to get rid of the hassale of peeling and cutting the potatos.

In conclusion, despite the advantages of consuming restaurant and ready to cook meals, they have number of disadvantages in terms of health. There must be the balance between both the way of eating.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of relying on restaurants and convenience food. A clear position is established throughout the essay. The ideas presented are relevant, such as hygiene and health issues for the drawbacks, and time-saving convenience for the benefits. However, some arguments tend to be slightly repetitive and could be extended further with deeper examples rather than simple lists. For instance, the discussion on health problems covers food poisoning, preservatives, and obesity, but these points are stated rather than fully elaborated. Nevertheless, all requirements of the task are met adequately, aligning well with the expectations of Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a clear overall logical organization, moving from an introduction to body paragraphs discussing disadvantages and advantages respectively, followed by a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas. Cohesive devices are employed to link sentences and paragraphs, such as 'The drawbacks associated with', 'Furthemore', 'Moreover', and 'In conclusion'. However, some of these transitions feel a bit mechanical, and referencing is occasionally clunky, as seen in 'eating this way' or 'both the way of eating'. Overall, the progression is coherent, but the heavy reliance on basic cohesive markers prevents it from reaching a higher band. This corresponds comfortably to a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms like 'contemporary world', 'convenience food', 'preservatives', and 'obesity'. There are, however, several noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations throughout the text. For example, the phrase 'are being relied by' contains a preposition error, 'protocoals' has a spelling mistake, and phrases like 'a numerous amount of' and 'hassale of peeling' show weakness in word formation and spelling. Additionally, the phrase 'substantial fast food' is an unnatural collocation. These errors do not impede communication, allowing the writer to secure a Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as conditional structures ('if someone wants to eat fries...') and subordinate clauses ('Nowadays, people are so busy... that they do not have time...'). Control over grammar is variable. There are several grammatical errors, including passive voice errors ('are being relied by' instead of 'relied upon'), missing articles ('in market' instead of 'in the market', 'to get rid of the hassale'), and subject-verb agreement or redundancy issues ('They do not require to dedicate'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, and meaning is rarely obscured, placing this performance at a Band 5.5.

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