Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)
In most of the developed cities the working class citizens do rely on resturants and convenience food such as frozen food and packaged meals rather than fully home cooked meals and it has many advantages along with many disadvantages .
some of the advantages are , many working class citizens work all day and rarely have time to sleep so how can one expect them to cook that is one of the common reasons of them relying of resturants and convenience food by this way they save time and less thier workload by not worrying about food and may be more productive at work and by relying on restaurants and convenience food they have more options with less efforsts as by using frozen foods a proper warm meal can be prepared in less than 5 minutes by using an airfryer or a microwave and from my own experience as a student with unplanned days and random collage classes and my part time shifts i can not manage to cook myself and mostly rely on packaged meals .
while we have discussed about advantages lets move on to some disadvantages as more and more people shift towards resturants and convenience food the rates in thier health decline is properly docummented as home cooked meals are generally more healthy and more cheap as i also used to meal prep for a week ahead myself and this way i tended to be more healthy and had saved up much more than i used to save when relying on resturants and convenience food options
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 6.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
You address both sides of the question and give relevant reasons: convenience can save time and reduce workload, while restaurant and packaged meals may be less healthy and more expensive. Your personal examples—balancing college classes and part-time shifts, and previously meal-prepping—make the discussion relevant. However, the advantages receive more explanation than the disadvantages, which are mainly asserted rather than explored. For example, you could explain how frequent reliance on prepared food affects diet or household spending, and support this with a specific example. The response also needs a clearer concluding statement that summarises your overall assessment of this way of eating. Developing the less-supported points would make the response more complete.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5
The response has a recognisable progression: it introduces the topic, discusses advantages, then turns to disadvantages. Phrases such as “some of the advantages” and “lets move on to some disadvantages” help signal this structure, and the personal examples are placed alongside relevant points. This gives the essay an overall coherent arrangement. However, the ideas are packed into very long paragraphs and sentences, so the reader has to work to identify where one point ends and another begins. Some linking is also mechanical, particularly the repeated use of “and” and the explicit transition phrase. Use separate paragraphs for the introduction, each side, and the conclusion, and connect related ideas with clearer referencing and a wider range of transitions. This would build on the logical progression already present.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “convenience food,” “packaged meals,” “meal prep,” “workload,” and “productive.” The examples also show some ability to express everyday situations in relevant terms. However, the range is uneven, with repeated wording such as “relying on restaurants and convenience food,” and several inaccurate or awkward choices reduce precision: “rates in their health decline” and “less effort” do not express the intended ideas naturally. Spelling errors such as “resturants,” “thier,” “docummented,” and “collage” are noticeable. Aim for more precise collocations and check spelling carefully. For instance, describe health as “deteriorating” and say that prepared meals “require less effort.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a conditional question (“how can one expect them to cook”) and clauses introduced by “as” and “while.” These attempts help you explain causes and contrast the two sides. However, many sentences are very long and join several complete ideas without clear punctuation, which makes the grammatical relationships difficult to follow. There are also errors in articles, agreement, and sentence construction, as in “In most of the developed cities the working class citizens do rely” and “many working class citizens work all day and rarely have time to sleep so how can one expect them to cook.” Break these into shorter sentences, use commas and full stops consistently, and check subject–verb agreement and article use. This would make your varied structures more controlled and easier to understand.
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