Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-03

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)

It is inevitable that most of the population in the recent era heavily relies on frozen, pre-cooked meals and eating out in restaurants instead of preparing fresh, nutrient-rich food at home. This trend benefits individuals in the sense of saving their leisure time and utilizing it in looking after their loved ones the demerits can be incresing health problems and

One of the advantages to be considered is that individual can save ample amount of time through ordering food from resturants or preparing them at home using frozen-packaged food. Consequenlty, after a hectic day at work, one can focus on their children and can spent quality time with their loved ones. Another benefit could be conveniency and flexibility of eating ready-made food. To explain this, frozen food is readily availbale in grocery stores which can be stored for months as it has longer expiry date. Moreover, frozen food preserves the great amount of protien and supplements, which can be beneficial to fulfil daily nutrients needs thorugh wasting less time in preparing.

One of the major disadvantages of eating in restaurants is that meals are prepared using variety of spices and harmful oils. This can result in health problems later in life such as obesity and high cholesterol levels. For example, it is suggested by many research that increasing number of yougsters are suffering from obesity in recent days which can be a result of oily food from restaurants. Although eating from frozen food is more convenient after busy schedules, the nutrients it provided can not be compared with the amount from fresh vegetables and fruits from farms. Moreover,

In conclusion, eating packaged food or ordering meals from reaturants have advantages of saving leisure time and conveniency, home-made food

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the main parts of the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of relying on restaurants and convenience food. However, the development of ideas remains limited and under-developed, and the conclusion is abruptly cut off in mid-sentence, reflecting a partial and incomplete treatment of the task. While the introduction outlines benefits such as saving leisure time and drawbacks like health issues, these points lack sufficient elaboration and specific support. For instance, the discussion on the health impacts of restaurants mentions obesity and high cholesterol, but the explanation remains generalized without deep exploration of the socio-economic or lifestyle factors driving this trend. To reach a higher level, the writer needs to present fully extended ideas with deeper explanations and maintain a complete, cohesive structure throughout the entire essay, including a finished conclusion.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is a basic organization to the essay, dividing the points into paragraphs covering advantages and disadvantages, but the overall progression lacks clear logical continuity. Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or inaccurate, such as using 'Consequenlty' (which also contains a spelling error) and abrupt shifts between sentences. Referencing is occasionally unclear, and the mechanical flow is disrupted by incomplete sentences, particularly at the end of the second and third body paragraphs where thoughts trail off without closure. Paragraphing is attempted, but the final conclusion is entirely fragmented and truncated. To improve coherence and cohesion, the writer should ensure that each paragraph builds logically upon the previous one, use a wider and more natural variety of transitional phrases without overusing them, and ensure that every paragraph concludes with complete, well-formed thoughts that tie back to the central thesis.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate to discuss the topic, but it features noticeable errors in word choice, spelling, and word form that occasionally cause difficulty or distract the reader. Examples of lexical slips include 'incresing', 'resturants', 'conveniency', 'availbale', 'thorugh', 'yougsters', and 'reaturants'. The range of vocabulary is somewhat limited, relying on familiar terms like 'freezer', 'food', 'health problems', and 'time', with unsuccessful attempts at less common lexical items. The writer attempts phrases like 'nutrient-rich food' and 'hectic day at work', which show an adequate attempt at topic-specific lekival choices, but the frequent misspellings and imprecise word forms prevent the vocabulary from scoring higher. To progress, the student must expand their repertoire of less common vocabulary, check word forms carefully, and eliminate repetitive spelling errors by proofreading their work.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The grammar demonstrates a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside attempts at complex forms that are frequently marred by errors. Frequent grammatical and punctuation errors occur, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('individual can save', 'the nutrients it provided can not be compared') and missing articles or prepositions ('through wasting less time in preparing', 'by many research'). Furthermore, the sentence structures in several places are incomplete, notably the trailing clauses in the introduction, third paragraph, and conclusion, which disrupt the grammatical integrity of the response. To achieve a higher level of grammatical performance, the writer needs to increase the variety of error-free complex sentence patterns, maintain strict control over verb tenses and pluralization, and ensure that all sentences are grammatically complete from start to finish.

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