Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-26

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)

Now a days there is a increase in number of people who are replying on the restaurants and frozen food rather than home cooked food.

There are many advantages and disadvantages eating this way.

Let's talk about the advantages. Consider a working employee they get up in the morning and commute to work. There is no time to cook the food. Instead they can get the meal subscriptions and have a good meal or they can quickly do heat in the frozen food in the office or at home.

This makes the life more easier..coming to the disadvantages the frozen food is cheaper but with the unhealthy ingredients this could cause the stomach and the gut related issues. example take mcdonals i have a reel in tiktok the chicken patty was placed outside for 100 days and still it didn't have any fungus. We are unsure how the restaurant is serving us the frozen food. Coming to the fruits or packaged drinks available in the super market looks fresh but have so many harmful chemicals mixed to have longer shelf life. Companies are making so much money but just addding the label naming organic with the cheapest quality. Recently there is a food safety ride happened and see many products are seized. There is always a balance between good and bad foods.

One should spent atleast 2 hours of time once in a week to prepare the meal prep and stored. Eating food sometimes is good but in a long run it causes gut health issues

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both advantages and disadvantages, with a relevant advantage for busy workers: meal subscriptions and ready-to-heat food save cooking time. You also identify possible health and food-safety concerns, and your final recommendation to prepare meals in advance gives the response a practical conclusion. However, the advantages are much less developed than the disadvantages, and some claims—such as the TikTok example about a chicken patty and the claim about companies labelling cheap products organic—are not explained or supported clearly. The response also shifts between restaurants, frozen meals, packaged drinks and fruit without consistently linking these examples to the question of relying on convenience food for most meals. Develop each side with clearer reasons and more balanced, relevant examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some overall organisation: you introduce the topic, signal advantages and disadvantages, and end with advice. Phrases such as “Let’s talk about the advantages” and “coming to the disadvantages” help the reader recognise the shift. However, the response is largely presented as one continuous paragraph, so the main points are not clearly separated or developed in a logical sequence. Some transitions feel abrupt, particularly the move from frozen food to a social-media example, then to packaged drinks and food-safety inspections. The conclusion introduces meal preparation but does not clearly summarise the comparison. Use separate paragraphs for the introduction, each side of the discussion, and the conclusion, and connect examples explicitly to the point they support.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “meal subscriptions,” “frozen food,” “shelf life,” “harmful chemicals” and “gut health issues.” These choices make the subject understandable. However, the range is limited and several noticeable word-choice, collocation and spelling problems reduce precision, such as “replying on” for depending on, “do heat” for heat or reheat, “food safety ride” for food-safety raid, and “addding” for adding. Informal expressions such as “Let’s talk about” and “so much money” are less suitable for an IELTS essay. Aim for more precise phrases such as “ready-made meals,” “food-safety inspection” and “long-term health effects,” while checking spelling and choosing a consistent, appropriately formal style.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences, for example, “There is no time to cook the food” and the sentence beginning “Consider a working employee…”. However, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences awkward or difficult to follow. Examples include “there is a increase,” “There are many advantages and disadvantages eating this way,” “they get up… and commute” after the singular “employee,” and “One should spent.” Articles, agreement, verb forms and sentence boundaries need more consistent control. Punctuation is also unreliable, as in “This makes the life more easier..coming to the disadvantages.” Practise building accurate complex sentences with clear subjects and verbs, and proofread for agreement, articles and full stops.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.