Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-06

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)

Nowadays, customers are able to buy imported food items from any supermarket due to the increasingly import and export of food items between countries. I believe that it is a positive development as it helps people from different regions to try out the stuff belonging from other countries.

Food items belonging from different countries are sometimes attractive and good in taste that many people intend to buy it again due to different types of special ingredients used to prepare it and it eventually ends up becoming their favourite. It also gives new experience while tasting variety of food items from all over the world as it allows people to know and taste different cuisines that are being prepared in different regions of the world.

Whereas, some people who are always excited to try new types of food items end up hating some imported food items due to bad taste as it doesn’t match their tastebuds.As a result, they end up getting sick as they are used to the food that eat regularly that belongs from their own country.

For instance, food vloggers try each and every food item and they’re always excited about trying new stuff so that they can give their reviews on those items and there are many times when they give negative reviews on some food items that caused them a health issue.

In my opinion, people have access to all types of foods while staying in their own country and tasting different food items give an exciting experience while sometimes it can also cause serious illness

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 global food, but the development is limited. While you state it is a positive development, the arguments are somewhat superficial and repetitive. For example, the focus on 'taste' and 'vloggers' lacks depth regarding the broader economic or environmental implications of global food trade. The conclusion is slightly contradictory, as it highlights the risk of 'serious illness' after arguing the development is positive, which weakens your overall position. To improve, ensure your main ideas are fully extended with more sophisticated reasoning and clearer links to the prompt's core theme.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, but the logical flow between and within them is sometimes disjointed. You use some cohesive devices like 'For instance' and 'As a result', but others are used incorrectly or mechanically, such as starting a paragraph with 'Whereas' to introduce a counter-argument that is not well-integrated. The progression of ideas is occasionally repetitive, particularly regarding the 'taste' of food. To achieve a higher band, focus on using a wider range of linking words more naturally and ensure that each paragraph has a clear, singular focus that builds logically toward your conclusion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and variety required for higher bands. You rely heavily on basic terms like 'stuff', 'good', and 'bad', which limits your ability to express complex ideas. Phrases such as 'belonging from' are used repeatedly and are grammatically incorrect (the correct collocation is 'belonging to' or 'originating from'). To improve, try to incorporate more academic vocabulary related to global trade, cultural exchange, or health, and pay closer attention to collocations to ensure your word choices sound natural and precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include incorrect preposition usage ('belonging from'), subject-verb agreement errors ('food that eat'), and punctuation mistakes (missing spaces after periods). While the meaning is generally understandable, these recurring errors prevent the text from reaching a higher level of accuracy. Focus on proofreading for basic grammatical consistency, particularly with prepositions and relative clauses, to ensure your sentences are error-free and demonstrate better control over complex structures.

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

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