Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-12

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In many countries nowadays, consumers can go to a supermarket and buy food produced all over the world.

Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

In many countries currently, customers are going to mall and supermarket and predominantly buy the food that is produced all over the world. This habit is growing common in the society due to different reasons. In this essay, we will discuss about the affect of this behaviour on society.

Many people throughout the world are now preferring international foods. The are various reasons for the development of this behaviour in people. The most common thought that comes in the mind of individual is that they will look cool by adopting the international dishes as regular food without investigating that it is healthy for their physical as well as for mental health or not. The most common example is that Chinese Rice is most common dish, available all over the world. People start liking this dish than normal rice, available in their country. The other reason for increasing people's love for international food is that they get bored from their traditional food as there are no further developments in taste of foods that are already available.

This is a negative development for certain reasons. The most common reason is that people do not ensure that what is healthy for their mind and body. Many foods that are available internationally is considered as junk food because it has bad impacts on humans and cause certain number of diseases ( nausea, vomiting, hepatitis and stomach problems etc ). There is also a bad impact on the poor and needy people of society because they cannot afford these expensive dishes and they try to get money either illegally or legally to live a luxury life. Indirectly, it can also increase crimes rate.

According to my perspective, people should prefer their healthy traditional dishes instead of promoting unhealthy junk food. People should try new dishes and tastes but after confirming is it healthy for them or not?

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing the availability of international food and taking a clear negative stance. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and occasionally illogical. For example, the claim that people buy international food to 'look cool' is a generalization that lacks depth. Furthermore, the argument linking the consumption of international food to an increase in crime rates is tenuous and not well-supported by logical evidence. While the essay covers the requirements, the supporting arguments need more nuance and a stronger connection to the actual topic of global food trade rather than focusing primarily on 'junk food' and social status.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or repetitive. Phrases like 'The most common reason is' and 'The other reason' are used frequently, which makes the flow feel somewhat formulaic. Additionally, some transitions between sentences are abrupt, and the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the second paragraph where the connection between international food and the specific health issues mentioned is not smoothly integrated. More varied linking words and better paragraph internal structure would improve the coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and variety required for a higher band. There are several instances of awkward word choices, such as 'discuss about the affect' (should be 'discuss the effect') and 'development of this behaviour'. The range is limited to common, everyday language, and there is little attempt to use less common lexical items or idiomatic expressions. While the meaning is generally clear, the lack of sophisticated vocabulary and occasional collocation errors (e.g., 'increase crimes rate' instead of 'increase the crime rate') limit the score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in subject-verb agreement and article usage, such as 'The are various reasons' and 'available internationally is considered'. Punctuation is also problematic, particularly with the unnecessary use of parentheses for lists and inconsistent capitalization. While the errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to be noticeable throughout the text. To improve, the student should focus on basic grammatical accuracy and proofreading for common slips in tense and number agreement.

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.