Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-10-28

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)

Nowadays, people prefer to eat outside food rather than preparing meals at home on regular basis. Although this trend have some benefits like consuming readymade food brings more convenience and can save their time and they can have multiple food options, it have several drawbacks also like it can increase of chance of dieaseses and put burden on wallet.

Primary advantage of eating outside food is it saves time. It is beneficial for individuals with hectic schedule as cooking at home is very time and energy consuming process. Thus, consuming outside food can spare extra time for themselves and for their family as they do not have to spend additonal time in cooking. For example, someone doing afternoon shift job returns home late at night from work so instead of cooking they prefer to eat instant food so they can sleep early. Moreover, readymade foods often offer variety of options to select so people can eat food of their choice conveniently.

However, consuming fast foods regularly can leads to some serious dieases. Many restaurants use inferior quality ingredients in their foods to increase their margins and many frozen meals often contains harmful chemicals and preservative which are used to increase their self-life. Consequently, consumption of that kind of foods on regular basis can leads to some serieous health issues like diabetes and some serious cardio-vescular dieaseses. In addition, fast foods are often more expensive compared to home-made cooked meals. Thus, eating it on daily basis can increase financial burden on low-wage individuals.

To conclude, eating readymade food can bring some benefits like saving time and energy by not cooking themselves, though its reguar consumption can increase chance of developing some serious dieseases like diabetes in future.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address both sides of the question and maintain a clear overall view: convenience, time-saving and choice are presented as advantages, while health risks and cost are disadvantages. The examples about a late-shift worker and the possible effects of regular consumption make the discussion relevant. This meets the task well, but the ideas are not equally developed. The time-saving point is explained with a concrete scenario, whereas the variety of food choices is only briefly mentioned. The health discussion would also be stronger if it distinguished restaurant meals from frozen or packaged food and supported the claims more carefully. To strengthen the response further, extend each main point with a specific explanation or example and make the conclusion reflect both sides more fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response has a clear, logical structure: an introduction, a paragraph on advantages, a paragraph on disadvantages and a conclusion. The contrast between the two main body paragraphs is easy to follow, and linking expressions such as “Moreover,” “However,” “Consequently” and “To conclude” help signal the progression. This is a strong overall arrangement. Some connections are nevertheless a little mechanical, and repeated references to “outside food” and “readymade food” make the discussion less cohesive than it could be. The conclusion also returns mainly to the health disadvantage rather than bringing together the key points on both sides. Use more precise referencing and vary transitions naturally, while ensuring the final paragraph synthesises the whole argument.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “hectic schedule,” “convenience,” “financial burden,” “inferior quality ingredients” and “preservative.” These choices communicate the main ideas, and there is some attempt to use more specific language. However, noticeable spelling and word-choice errors reduce precision, including “dieaseses,” “additonal,” “serieous,” “reguar” and “cardio-vescular.” Some phrases are also unnatural or imprecise, such as “outside food,” “increase of chance” and “increase their margins.” Repetition of “serious” and “food” further limits flexibility. Proofread spelling carefully and learn common collocations for this topic; more accurate phrasing will make your ideas sound clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, including a conditional example (“someone doing afternoon shift job returns home late at night…”) and a contrast clause beginning “Although.” The overall meaning remains understandable, but some errors in agreement, verb forms, articles and sentence construction persist. For example, “this trend have” should use a singular verb, while “it have several drawbacks” repeats the agreement problem. In “fast foods regularly can leads,” the modal should be followed by the base verb; “frozen meals often contains” also needs plural agreement. Articles are missing in phrases such as “on regular basis.” Review these patterns and check each sentence for subject–verb agreement and article use. Greater accuracy in these areas would make the varied sentence forms more effective.

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