Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-17

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)

Nowadays, customers are more interested in buying the local goods instead of the imported goods because they are cost-effective and low-maintenance. I believe it is a positive development.

There are significant reasons to buy locally produced goods rather than foreign produced as they are affordable. Home grown products are less expensive due to low taxation and cheap raw material. Moreover, customers can evaluate the quality of the product before buying it. However, imported products passes through different stages such as taxation, duty charges and delivery which makes them expensive. Furthermore, foreign products require high maintenance and adequate environment to keep it. Wheras the local goods mainly focus on flexibility to the adjustment.

In my opinion, it is a positive development. When people buy goods that are produced in their area, they strengthen the economy. Not only the local businesses get recognization, but also become a medium of generating employment. Local business often create job opportunities and contribute to the economic performance of the country. For example, the Vocal for Local initiative introduced by Narendra Modi encourages people to buy local products. This initiative helps local businesses to grow and creates employment opportunities. Another positive aspect of not buying foreign products is that it significantly decrease the reliance of one country on another. That makes the nation self-dependent.

In conclusion, choosing the native goods over imported one is a positive development because it supports local businesses, generates employment opportunities and makes a country self-dependent. Moreover, low-maintenance is needed for those products. I believe it is a positive trend because it boosts the economy and makes a country self dependent.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.5
Coherence and Cohesion7.0
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy6.0
Overall6.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The student addresses all parts of the prompt, identifying reasons why consumers buy local goods (cost-effectiveness, low maintenance, quality evaluation) and clearly stating a position that this is a positive trend. The ideas are relevant and supported with examples, such as the 'Vocal for Local' initiative. However, some arguments in the second paragraph, such as the claim that local goods 'mainly focus on flexibility to the adjustment' and that imported products require 'adequate environment to keep it', are somewhat unclear and under-developed. To reach a higher band, these points would benefit from clearer explanations and more precise economic or social reasoning. Overall, the response meets the core requirements of the task effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The response is coherently organised with a clear overall progression. It begins with an introduction outlining the main points and stance, moves into reasons in the second paragraph, discusses the positive impacts in the third, and concludes with a summary. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas. Cohesive devices are generally used adequately, with transitional markers like 'Moreover', 'However', 'Furthermore', and 'In conclusion' guiding the reader through the text. However, referencing and logical transitions are occasionally mechanical or slightly repetitive, such as the redundant repetition of the concluding stance in the final paragraph. Despite these minor flaws, the logical flow is maintained throughout the essay.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'cost-effective', 'self-dependent', and 'recognization'. There are, however, several word choice, collocation, and form errors throughout the text. Examples include 'buying the local goods' instead of 'buying local goods', 'foreign produced' instead of 'foreign-produced goods', 'passes' instead of 'pass' (agreement issue affecting vocabulary/grammar), and 'recognization' instead of 'recognition'. Furthermore, spelling and morphological choices show occasional inaccuracies. While these issues do not impede overall communication, they restrict the lexical score to a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, attempting relative clauses and conditional structures. There are several noticeable grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as 'imported products passes through' (subject-verb agreement), 'keep it' instead of 'keep them' (pronoun agreement), 'decrease the reliance' instead of 'decreases the reliance', and unnecessary repetition in the conclusion. Punctuation is generally acceptable, and the errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the main message. Because the mix of simple and complex forms is accompanied by frequent minor errors in grammar, a Band 6.0 is appropriate.

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

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