Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Barron's Writing · 2026-11-02

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, most individuals depend on packed food instead of preparing food at home. I believe that there are a number of benefits and certain negative impacts; I will articulate some of them in the forthcoming paragraph.

To commence with, the predominant advantage of relying on outdoor foods is that people can save their time, as well as they can get a huge variety at restaurants. Additionally, when they are travelling, carrying packed food is one of the best options for them. For example, when travelling to non- native countries, they can enjoy their own food. Apart from this, it can also be considered that the shelf life of frozen food is longer than food cooked at home. Therefore, owing to these benefits, most of the masses are willing to buy packed meals.

On the other hand, there are some drawbacks of eating meals in restaurants and using frozen foods; the first and foremost is, that they contain many preservatives that have adverse effects on health. Furthermore, there are those who claim that they do not like the taste of packed food, as they most love to eat fresh food. Moreover, a few people argue that packed food is also very expensive compared to fresh meals. To cite an example, frozen fruits that people use to make smoothies are very expensive, and they contain a number of preservatives. Henec, due to these reasons, everyone is willing to use fresh and home-cooked food.

In conclusion, although due to the convenience and ease of cooking, many people love to eat packed food, yet I believe that it has more drawbacks for families who use it on a regular basis.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both advantages and disadvantages and give a clear overall view that regular reliance on packaged food has drawbacks. The benefits of saving time, having restaurant variety, and taking food while travelling are relevant, as are your concerns about preservatives, taste, and cost. However, some points are not fully explained: the example about enjoying familiar food in “non-native countries” does not clearly show how this is an advantage of restaurants or convenience food, and the claim that “everyone” prefers fresh food conflicts with your earlier statement that many people buy packaged meals. Develop fewer points with clearer explanations and examples, and make your conclusion reflect the balanced discussion more precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Sequencing is generally easy to follow, and signposts such as “On the other hand” and “In conclusion” help the reader identify the stages of your argument. This already gives the essay a coherent progression. However, some linking is mechanical, particularly “To commence with,” “Furthermore,” and “Moreover” in close succession, while “Therefore” and “owing to these benefits” repeat the same relationship. References such as “they” in the travel example are not fully clear. Use fewer formulaic transitions and connect each example directly to the point it supports.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range for the topic, including “shelf life,” “preservatives,” “adverse effects,” and “home-cooked food.” These choices help communicate the main ideas, and you attempt some less common expressions. At times, however, vocabulary is imprecise or unnatural: “outdoor foods” does not clearly mean restaurant food, “packed food” is used where “packaged” or “convenience food” would be more accurate, and “the most love to eat” is an awkward construction. “The masses” also sounds overly formal in this context, and “Henec” is misspelled. Aim for consistent, natural topic vocabulary and check spelling and collocations during revision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses introduced by “as,” “when,” and “although,” and the main meaning is generally clear. Some sentences are controlled, such as “Apart from this, it can also be considered that the shelf life of frozen food is longer than food cooked at home.” There are also some grammatical and punctuation errors. For example, “as well as they can get” is not correctly joined to the preceding clause; “the first and foremost is, that” has an unnecessary comma; and “although due to the convenience and ease of cooking” creates an incomplete, awkward concessive structure. Practise joining clauses accurately and check punctuation around introductory and subordinate phrases.

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