Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-16

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)

Frozen or packaged meals are becoming very popular these days. People prefer to eat outside or ready-to-eat meals instead of making them home. There are many pros and cons of this practice on our daily life.

To commence with the advantages, it saves time. There are many individuals who don’t have time to buy fruit and vegetables from market and cook them at home. To save their time and energy, they prefer to eat pre-cooked meals. Some people don’t like cooking or don’t know how to cook a specific dish, so, they ended up buying an instant meal. Another big advantage of this practice is that it contributes to GDP growth. People tend to start new industries, create employment opportunities and provide convenience to many people. The regular exchange of money and product contributes in nationwide growth.

There are also many disadvantages of this way like health issues, food safety issues and quality issues. These type of foods often contributes to health concerns like diabetes, high blood pressure, and many heart diseases. We cannot have proper nutrition from instant meals. Pre-cooked meals have storage concerns, process of thaw, transportation which makes them worse for a human body. The type and quality of vegetables and other ingredients is always unknown for a consumer.

In my opinion, proper nutrition and balanced diet can only be achievable through home cooked meals. Pre-cooked meals are also a good option depending on the situation because it provides convenience and protect individuals from extra hustle.

In conclusion, people who prepare meals at home often have better life expectancy and health as compared to others while frozen meals provide convenience which is an important factor for many people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both advantages and disadvantages and give a relevant overall view: convenience and employment are benefits, while health and food quality are concerns. The time-saving point is supported with examples of people who lack time or cooking skills. However, some ideas are less fully explained than others. The claim that ready meals contribute to GDP is broad; explain more directly how consumer demand creates jobs or supports businesses. The health concerns are listed, but the link between processing, nutrition and specific risks could be clearer and more carefully qualified. Your final opinion supports home cooking while acknowledging convenience, though it could be stated more decisively and connected to the discussion. Developing these points with specific examples would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a concluding view. The progression from time-saving to economic benefits, then to health and quality concerns, is easy to follow. You also use signposting such as “To commence with the advantages,” “There are also many disadvantages,” and “In conclusion.” This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent organisation and shows some features of stronger progression. However, these transitions can feel formulaic, and links within paragraphs are sometimes abrupt: the move from people who dislike cooking to GDP growth needs a clearer connection. The final opinion and conclusion partly repeat earlier points. Use more precise referencing and transitions to show how each example supports the main idea.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of topic vocabulary, including “pre-cooked meals,” “employment opportunities,” “balanced diet,” and “food safety issues,” so the main ideas are clear. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “contributes to GDP growth” and “nationwide growth.” Some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, however: “eat outside” is less precise than “eat out,” “process of thaw” is not idiomatic, and “extra hustle” does not fit the intended meaning. Repetition of “meals,” “people,” and “practice” also limits flexibility. Aim for precise, natural combinations and vary repeated terms; this would make the vocabulary more controlled without sacrificing clarity.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “individuals who don’t have time” and a conditional-style qualification in “depending on the situation.” Most sentences communicate the intended meaning, but some grammatical errors remain. For example, “These type of foods” needs plural agreement, while “foods often contributes” has a subject–verb agreement error. In “it provides convenience and protect individuals,” the verbs do not agree in form, and “can only be achievable” is an awkward construction. Articles and sentence punctuation also need attention, as in “from market.” Review agreement, verb forms and article use, then proofread longer sentences to improve accuracy while retaining varied structures.

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