Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-17

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 the morden era, many people can buy special food which is expressed from other countries far from them easily and conveniently.I believe this is a significant advantage. However this may pose a threat to the local environment and increase crime.

Firstly, these foods transported from other countries give opportunities to try new feelings. 150 years ago, people who lived in Europe or North America never even tasted bananas.But at present, we can buy those tasty and bizarre fruits or foods from close markets, this means we can try something new which our ancestors did not even see.Secondly, buying food from developing countries also helps the local people. This creates more jobs and boosts local economic growth and the local government could use profit from producing food or fruit to improve quality of education and healthy care.

By contrast, buying foreign food also has its drawbacks. In some countries, people want to produce or yield more profitable food or fruit and thus they cut down trees to get more land and plant some kinds of specific crops or fruits.This is happening in some developing countries. For example, In China, for yielding more oranges and selling to Europe, farmers even cut down many old trees, this considerably damages the local environment and increases the risk of flooding.

To sum up, this is clear that this is a remarkable advantage if people can enjoy new food that they did not try while buying and producing these can bring disadvantages they do not know.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the task by taking a clear position and discussing both the positive and negative aspects of global food trade. The writer suggests that this is a significant advantage while acknowledging threats to the environment. Ideas are presented and supported with examples, such as comparing historical access to bananas with current variety, and explaining the environmental impact of citrus farming in China. However, some arguments lack full extension. For instance, the mention of increasing crime in the introduction is never substantiated or revisited in the body paragraphs. Furthermore, the final conclusion is slightly muddled and repetitive. Overall, the response meets the criteria for Band 6.0 as it addresses the prompt directly and covers main ideas, though some parts could be more fully developed and logically aligned.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response has a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, separating the introduction, two body paragraphs (one for advantages, one for disadvantages), and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used to signal progression, such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'By contrast'. However, referencing and logical transitions are occasionally faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition from economic benefits to environmental drawbacks feels somewhat abrupt, and sentence boundaries are sometimes neglected, as seen in run-on sentences like '...from close markets, this means we can try something new...'. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, but the overall progression could be smoother. These characteristics place the text firmly at Band 6.0, as information is logically arranged even though cohesion shows some mechanical patterns.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms such as 'conveniently', 'bizarre fruits', 'economic growth', and 'profitable food'. There are several spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'morden' instead of 'modern', 'expressed' instead of 'imported', and 'healthy care' instead of 'healthcare'. Despite these inaccuracies, communication is not impeded, and the writer attempts some less common vocabulary items like 'considerably damages'. The lexical range is minimally sufficient to convey the intended meaning, which aligns well with the Band 6 descriptor where vocabulary is adequate for the task but exhibits some inaccuracies and minor spelling lapses.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures such as 'people who lived in Europe... never even tasted bananas' and 'if people can enjoy new food...'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation issues, including comma splices ('...from close markets, this means...'), missing articles, and awkward phrasing. For example, 'this is clear that this is a remarkable advantage' contains redundant phrasing. While these errors occur throughout the text, they rarely impede overall communication. The presence of a mixed grammatical range alongside persistent structural and mechanical errors corresponds directly to the Band 6 descriptor.

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