Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-29

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)

With a rising trend in Austin, Texas for purchasing local products and opting for local business and shops over international brands, one is more likely to think why this would be? Is this because of some government grants which can be one of the reasons for the rise in local business around or is it solely dependent on the changing consumers demands and their choices?

After putting in more research , I realized this is not only in Austin where I currently reside but also in other cities like Portland Oregon, Phoenix Arizona; Denver, Colorado to name a few. In my opinion , this all started after we were hit by Covid in 2020. Local businesses suffered the most and people got more empathetic towards sufferings of the people around them. Of course, there was physical illness due to the epidemic but mental and financial sufferings were the ones that hit the most. Records indicate that in Austin alone there were 20,000 local businesses that were shut because they could not sustain COVID.

People began to realize , how important local businesses were to people and how that could change someone's life with family to feed and mortgages to pay. After people started leaving their houses slowly for work and the life was back to normal in 2022, people made sure that they would use local products and help local businesses as much possible to keep them running.

Furthermore, this led to the old local businesses coming back and new ones flourishing and expanding. Since they were making good money, the local businesses started to provide more quality products and services which can be compared to the international ones and sometimes even better for half the prices.

People did not have to rely on the limited international brands anymore and trend of customized services and products started emerging. The buyers were benefitted because the local business owners catered to the their needs more closely compared to only limited international branded designs or items produced and displayed in shops at a higher price.

To conclude, in my opinion the rising trend in choosing the local business and products helps them to bloom and cater more personally to the needs of the buyers and buyers in turn benefit from the low cost and getting more personalized services. Biggest advantage of this trend is that I have seen more local people socializing and knowing one another closely, making it an ultimate positive trend in my opinion.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have addressed both parts of the prompt: the reasons for the trend and your opinion on whether it is positive or negative. Your ideas are relevant, particularly the link between the COVID-19 pandemic and increased empathy for local businesses. However, the development of your ideas is somewhat uneven. While the reasons are clear, the discussion on the 'positive' aspect is a bit repetitive in the final paragraph. To reach a higher band, ensure that your supporting examples are more balanced and that you fully explore the implications of the trend beyond just the economic benefits, such as environmental or community impacts.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

Your essay follows a logical progression, moving from the reasons for the trend to your personal evaluation. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas. However, the use of cohesive devices is sometimes mechanical or slightly awkward, such as the transition 'After putting in more research'. Additionally, some sentences are a bit disjointed, and the flow between ideas could be smoother. Using a wider variety of linking words and ensuring that pronouns clearly refer back to their antecedents would improve the overall coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'flourishing', 'catered', and 'sustain'. However, there are some instances of imprecise word choice and minor collocation errors, such as 'sufferings of the people' (better: 'the suffering of people') and 'hit the most' (better: 'affected them the most'). While your vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, it lacks the sophistication and precision required for higher bands. Expanding your repertoire of collocations and idiomatic expressions would help elevate your score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is appropriate for this level. There are several grammatical errors, particularly with article usage ('the life was back to normal', 'the trend of customized services'), subject-verb agreement, and punctuation (e.g., unnecessary spaces before commas). While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on proofreading for small errors like missing articles and incorrect preposition usage will significantly improve your accuracy.

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

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