Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-16

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

More and more people nowadays visit well-known places to take photographs of themselves, without looking at the place.

Why do you think this is happening?

Is it a positive or a negative trend?

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

The growing prevalence of taking pictures of onself everywhere they goes has attracted considerable attention in recent times. This trend can largely be attributed to social media like facebook and instagram and it has several implication for them. Both aspects needs to be justify in this essay.

One of the key reason for this trend is that nowadays everybody wants to post their photos on social media sites like facebook and instagram to be famous or to show off. For instance many of the online influencers run some trend to go certain places and post pictures and other people follow them and also want to do same. Another contributing factor is peer pressure from their friends and co-workers, which sometimes people will follow this to fit into groups or society where this is very common. For example, some people have groups on social media where they share all kind of information with each other and you have to have such accounts to be invlove.

This trend development has very negative effects on people as they stop living in the moment and actually stop enjoying. People all the time see the world through camare only rather than seeing with their own eyes. For example, some people at concerts or when they go see fireworks they tend to take their phone out to take selfie or photo of themselves rather they actually enjoying in the moment. Moreover, not all people get their recognicion on the social media which can make them depressed.

By way of conclusion, Social media is a major contributing factor behind why this trend is there in first place.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions: social media and influencer trends are offered as reasons, and you clearly judge the trend negatively. The examples about following influencers and taking photos at concerts help make the response relevant. However, the two causes overlap somewhat, and the peer-pressure point is less fully explained than the social-media point. Your discussion of negative effects is clearer, especially the loss of enjoyment and possible disappointment when posts receive little recognition. The conclusion repeats social media as a cause but does not restate your overall judgement or summarise the main effects. Develop each reason with a clearer explanation and finish by directly reaffirming why you consider the trend negative.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph explaining causes, a paragraph describing negative effects, and a conclusion. Sequencing is generally easy to follow, and signposts such as “For instance,” “Another contributing factor,” and “Moreover” help connect examples and points. Some links are mechanical or unclear, however. The opening says the trend has “several implication” without specifying them, and “Both aspects needs to be justify” does not clearly preview the two questions. The final paragraph is very brief and does not bring the discussion together. Use clearer topic sentences, make references such as “this” explicit, and ensure the conclusion connects both the causes and your stated position.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “social media,” “peer pressure,” “influencers,” “fit into groups,” and “living in the moment.” These choices communicate the main ideas, and there is some attempt to use more formal phrasing, such as “contributing factor.” However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, including “onself,” “camare,” and “recognicion,” while phrases such as “run some trend” and “all kind of information” are imprecise or unnatural. Repetition of “people,” “photos,” and “social media” also limits flexibility. Build a more accurate range of collocations and check spelling and word forms; for example, use “launch a trend” and “a range of information.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a relative clause in “groups on social media where they share…” and a conditional idea about recognition making people depressed. Meaning is generally recoverable, but errors in agreement, verb forms, articles, and sentence construction occur across the response. Examples include “everywhere they goes,” “Both aspects needs,” and “One of the key reason,” where the subject and verb or noun forms do not agree. The sentence beginning “For example, some people at concerts…” also has an unclear comparison and an incomplete structure around “rather they actually enjoying.” Practise checking subject–verb agreement and building complete clauses, especially when using “rather than,” while retaining your attempts at complex sentences.

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