Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-16

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 5.0)

Now a days, consumers can go to a supermarket and buy food produced all over the world. This development has few positive and few negative aspects. Lets discuss both aspects individually. Firstly, this development has helped people in various way. Consumers have variety of options and they have choice to select food of their own choice, Secondy seasonal foods can be available throughout the whole year, so better availaibility can help people to buy food at anytime of the year. This development also provide cultural exposure. In thhis way people learn about other countries through food. Lets discuss the negative points. greater availability of food can also lead to unhealthy diets. Transporting food from long distance increases emissions. Import of food from long distance can also damage the freshness of food. So, transportation and greater availaibility are the two main side effects of this development. In my opinion, this is a positive development because by comparing both aspects i come into conclusion that consumers should go to a supermarket and buy food throughout the world it will encourage cultural exposure

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to address the prompt by discussing both the positive and negative aspects of global food availability in supermarkets, concluding with a personal opinion. However, the response falls significantly short of the minimum word count requirement, containing only 180 words compared to the required 250 words. Because of this severe under-length, the ideas remain underdeveloped and lack sufficient extension and supporting examples. For instance, the points regarding cultural exposure and carbon emissions are stated in single, brief sentences without elaboration. Consequently, this heavily impacts the level of task fulfillment, resulting in a band score of 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay displays a basic overall arrangement, with separate paragraphs for the introduction, positive points, negative points, and conclusion. However, paragraphing is poorly handled at times, featuring very short paragraphs and disjointed sentences. Cohesive devices are used in a mechanical and repetitive manner, such as 'Firstly,' 'Secondy,' and 'Lets discuss the negative points.' There is also a lack of smooth transitions between ideas, and the referencing is sometimes unclear, particularly in the conclusion where the sentence structure breaks down. These issues reflect the characteristics of a Band 5 performance.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for basic communication but lacks the range and flexibility required for higher bands. The student relies on simple, repetitive terms such as 'food', 'development', and 'positive/negative aspects'. There are noticeable spelling and word choice errors, including 'Now a days' instead of 'Nowadays', 'availaibility' instead of 'availability', and 'In thhis way'. Less common lexical items are rarely attempted successfully, and precision is lacking. This corresponds to a Band 5 descriptor level, where the vocabulary is minimally adequate but features noticeable errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The text demonstrates a very limited range of sentence structures, relying primarily on simple sentences and basic compound structures. Attempts at complex structures are largely absent. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as article omission ('Consumers have variety of options'), punctuation errors, and incorrect prepositions ('Transporting food from long distance'). The final sentence is a run-on and grammatically incomplete: 'in my opinion, this is a positive development because by comparing both aspects i come into conclusion that consumers should go to a supermarket and buy food throughout the world it will encourage cultural exposure.' These frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader, placing the grammar at a Band 5 level.

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