Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-14

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)

Food is a basic need of all living things and specially humans always want to try different cuisines. Nowadays, in many countries people go to supermarkets and purchase food available globally. Trying food of different countries can give them idea of different cultures. In my opinion it is a positive development of trying different cuisines.

One major positive impact of trying international food is that it links one country with another.It benefits the country as a whole when people buy food that is worldly recognizd. In addition, it provides economic benefits to the country by import and export method. Buying international food strenthens the ties with their neighbouring countries and it creates jobs and businsses for the local community. Trading is one of the best way of generating money for the country. For instance, many people feel curious about the food that they see online and they wamt to try it. When the food is available in a country, consumers are ready to buy and try new food. So in this way country's economy can develop.

However, it also has negative impact on local businesses. Higher demand of international products can reduce the local farmer's business which makes them depressed and stressful. Moreover import and export of products can cause detrimental effects on the environment. Transportation of food from one place to another cause carbon emission which cause pollution.

In conclusion, consumers buying food that are produced worldly have its positive impact as it can leads to country's development. Seasonal products avaialble throughout the year, while on the other hand it makes local product less favourable. People gradually loose their traditional diet food and replace it with international products.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both positive and negative aspects of consuming globally produced food, ultimately taking a clear position in favour of the development. The student covers all parts of the task well and provides relevant supporting ideas, such as economic growth through trade and cultural awareness. However, some arguments lack deep extension; for instance, the points regarding environmental impacts and local businesses are introduced briefly without extensive elaboration. Ideas are generally relevant, but a tendency to over-generalise slightly pulls the development down to a Band 6.0 level. Key phrases like 'In my opinion it is a positive development' establish a clear stance right from the introductory paragraph.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph-by-paragraph structure that separates the introduction, positive impacts, negative impacts, and conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'In addition', 'For instance', 'However', and 'Moreover' are utilised to connect ideas. However, referencing is sometimes faulty, and some links feel mechanical rather than fluid. For example, the transition in the conclusion 'Seasonal products avaialble throughout the year, while on the other hand it makes local product less favourable' lacks smooth logical progression and integration. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, but the overall cohesion warrants a Band 6.0 score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'cuisines', 'detrimental effects', and 'carbon emission'. However, there are notable spelling and word-choice errors that recur throughout the text, including 'specially' instead of 'especially', 'worldly recognizd', 'strenthens', 'businsses', 'wamt', 'avaialble', and 'loose' instead of 'lose'. While these vocabulary limitations and slips do not impede communication, they restrict the lexical score to a Band 5.5, as precision and control over less common lexical items are inconsistent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over relative clauses and conditional structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors in tense consistency, article usage, and subject-verb agreement. Examples include 'Transportation of food... cause carbon emission which cause pollution' (plural/singular mismatch) and 'consumers buying food that are produced worldly have its positive impact'. Punctuation is also occasionally weak, such as missing spaces after periods (e.g., 'another.It benefits'). Despite these recurring errors, the meaning remains clear throughout, placing the grammar performance firmly within the Band 5.5 descriptor range.

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