Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-08

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some consumers are increasingly choosing to buy goods that are produced in their local area, rather than imported goods.

What are the reasons for this?

Is this 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 6.5)

In the recent times, consumption of locally produced goods has been increased as compared to imported goods. In my opinion, it is a positive trend and has several economic benefits. With the help of this essay I would like to discuss those in further paragraphs.

Firstly, consumers are moving towards local products because of various reasons. Take for instance, local products are cheaper in cost, as they were produced within the same country and it promotes independence as we don't have to rely on imported products. Moreover, it also helps in boosting the economy, which is extremely important for any nation in the current times.

Secondly, to handle situations like tariffs. For example, because of political reasons, last year the United States of America had applied plenty of tariffs over the Canadian Government, due to that prices of imported food items had seen a sharp increase. As a result, Canada has started exploring their locally produced goods in order to tackle the situation. Nevertheless, it helped in building the trust of general public among their fellow Canadians and similarly such issues could easily be handled in the future.

However, critics may argue that by doing this it will impact market pricing. To illustrate further, many countries import goods because it provides variety and competition to their fellow producers. Ultimately, general public choose which product they want to buy without doing a compromise on the quality and cost. It also helps avoid monopoly businesses.

To conclude, both sides present strong arguments. However, I still opine that, local made products is better choice and this trend should continue further. Considering the major reason of increased consumption, such as, to become self sufficient, to handle difficult times like war and tariffs, it is a positive trend and right one as well.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the reasons for the trend and the writer's opinion on whether it is positive or negative. The ideas are relevant, such as economic independence and handling trade tariffs. However, the development is somewhat uneven. The explanation of the 'critics' argument is a bit vague, and the connection between the example of the US-Canada tariff situation and the conclusion could be more explicitly linked to the 'positive' aspect. While the position is clear throughout, the supporting arguments would benefit from more depth and specific analysis to reach a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with clear paragraphing. Each paragraph has a central theme, and the progression of ideas is generally easy to follow. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Moreover', 'Nevertheless', and 'To conclude' are used to link ideas. However, some transitions feel a bit mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing, such as 'those' in the introduction, which lacks a clear antecedent. The use of cohesive devices is sufficient but not always sophisticated, which keeps the response at a solid level.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task. The student uses some topic-specific terms like 'tariffs', 'monopoly', and 'self-sufficient'. However, there are some awkward collocations and word choices, such as 'In the recent times' (should be 'In recent times') and 'local made products' (should be 'locally-made products'). The vocabulary is generally functional but lacks the precision and natural collocation required for a higher band. The repetition of 'products' and 'goods' also limits the lexical variety.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'consumption... has been increased' (passive voice error), 'had applied' (incorrect tense usage), and 'general public choose' (missing article). While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. The control of punctuation is generally acceptable, but the sentence structure could be more varied to demonstrate greater flexibility and accuracy.

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

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