Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-11

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 5.0)

time save preperation time busy schedule

flavours different variety every time

dis; health issues well-being, fry saturated fats and heavy carbs

expensive , budget , saving

fast food vast majorty , home- cooked fresh

Busy lifestyle not only impact on our lifestyles but it also alter our eating patterns, as individuals prefer to have ready-to-eat meals. It is claimed that the home made food has been replaced by pre-cooked and frozen food items. This trend having its own singnificant and it having detrimental impact on human health and on their budgets.

The main advantages of having ready-to-eat meals is trying different local and international dishes every time and it is time saving. Trying different variety every day is one of the advantages. As there are various restaurants avaliable these days, people can try dishes form Thai, Chienes and Indian restuatants. These options help them add varity in food, whcih not possible for them to try at home. Owing to busy schedule people have insufficient time for cooking, as it includes variety of steps from buying ingredients to washing, chopping and prepareing. By ordering food from restaurant they can save the food preperation time, which can be used for other productive activities such as; learning a new skill or join gym.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You identify relevant advantages, especially trying different cuisines and saving time, and you explain the latter with examples such as avoiding shopping, washing and chopping. However, the response addresses the question only partially: it does not develop the disadvantages, despite the opening mentioning health and cost, and the main body focuses almost entirely on benefits. The position is also difficult to follow because the introduction says the trend has both significant and detrimental effects without clearly stating what these are. The response is 40 words below the required minimum, which limits the space available to explain both sides. To improve, add a developed paragraph on disadvantages, with reasons or examples, and make your overall view clear.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

There is a basic attempt to organise the response: an introduction is followed by a paragraph about advantages, and the ideas about variety and convenience are relevant to one another. Some linking is also present, including “Owing to busy schedule” and “By ordering food from restaurant.” However, the response has no concluding paragraph and does not progress to the disadvantages, so the overall argument feels incomplete. Several sentences repeat the same point about variety, and the opening notes are disconnected from the essay. Some links are awkward or unclear, such as “These options help them add varity in food, whcih not possible for them to try at home.” Use a clear paragraph for each side, connect each example to its main point, and finish with a brief conclusion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “ready-to-eat meals,” “pre-cooked and frozen food items,” “international dishes,” and “productive activities.” These choices show an attempt to discuss food and time management beyond very basic terms. However, the range is limited, and frequent spelling errors and inaccurate word choices sometimes make the message harder to understand: “singnificant,” “avaliable,” “varity,” and “preperation” are examples. Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “trying different variety” and “save the food preparation time.” Aim for accurate collocations and check spelling carefully. You could use expressions such as “a wider choice of cuisines,” “save time on meal preparation,” and “nutritional consequences” to express the ideas more precisely.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, for example the clause beginning “Owing to busy schedule” and the sentence explaining that cooking involves several steps. However, complex structures are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to affect clarity. Examples include “The main advantages … is” (subject–verb agreement), “This trend having its own…” (incomplete verb structure), and “which not possible for them to try at home” (missing verb). Articles and sentence construction also need attention, as in “By ordering food from restaurant.” Practise building complete sentences with a clear subject and finite verb, and check agreement and articles. For instance: “The main advantage … is that people can try different cuisines.”

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