Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-26

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 5.5)

In a recent era, it is observed that some consumers are shifting to buy goods from local manufacturer and avoid to purchase international brands. This could be a good shift for local businesses, but having said that, it is also true that people are not earning enogh to spend money to afford international goods. This is a strong alarm to authority focusing in such move.

Since last 5 years, globe have been facing different adverse situations such as Covid pendemic, couple of war situations in middle east Asia, and European region. Some of them are leading nations whose economy actually decides global share market, are part of these wars that makes world more volatile. Although many countries are not participating in such conflicts, they are explicitly or implicitly affected due to be the part of global trade. Such negative situations have stopped the money rotation across the market which leads to recession. Admittably, our ruling parties are really making huge efforts to isolate our nation from such global problems. However, as a part of globalisation, it is not possible to get rid away from this.

As a result of recession, employer cannot invest more Capital into the market, and some of them always on edge of bankruptcy which eventually insecure individual's job even though employee is delivering so well. At the end, this financial burden comes on a common person who can not afford the branded commodities in his daily life. That instigate him to purchase a local made product. Having said that, it is also fact that such phenomenon could be a proficient for local manufacturer. However, in a wider picture, this says some different story which is not beneficial for overall economy. To overcome this, government tries to subsidise local services and facilities. They also promote bank loans on lower interest rates but again this propogates national currency weaker in global market.

To conclude this, to prefer local products over imported goods promotes regional businesses, but in reality this is not a reason of any positive cause, this shows the signs of recession.

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

The response attempts to address both parts of the prompt, identifying reasons for buying local goods (such as global economic instability, recession, and affordability issues) and discussing whether this is positive or negative. The writer presents a clear position that while local businesses benefit, the overall trend stems from negative economic conditions like recessions rather than positive causes. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and lacks robust examples from personal knowledge or experience, relying instead on generalised economic concepts. The reasoning is occasionally tangled, moving quickly between global events and individual purchasing power. Consequently, it fits the Band 6 descriptor where all parts of the task are addressed, but some ideas are under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. Paragraphing is utilised, though body paragraphs are quite dense and could benefit from clearer division. Cohesive devices are employed, but some transitions are unnatural or mechanically applied, such as 'Having said that, it is also fact that' and 'At the end'. Referencing is occasionally ambiguous, for example, the use of 'this' or 'Some of them' without clear antecedents. Overall, the progression of ideas is discernible, but the management of cohesion places it firmly at a Band 6 level.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'volatile', 'recession', 'bankruptcy', and 'subsidise'. However, there are frequent inappropriate word choices and collocations that reveal limitations, such as 'avoid to purchase' instead of 'avoid purchasing', 'enogh', 'pendemic', 'local made product', and 'propogates national currency weaker'. Spelling errors ('enogh', 'pendemic', 'Admittably', 'propogates') and grammatical word-formation issues ('proficient' instead of 'profitable') occur, though they do not severely impede communication, aligning with the Band 5.5 to 6.0 range. A score of 5.5 reflects these persistent lexical inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at subordination and relative clauses ('Although many countries are not participating...'). However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in subject-verb agreement ('employer cannot invest', 'employee is delivering'), article usage ('on a common person'), prepositions ('due to be the part'), and tense consistency. For instance, 'Since last 5 years, globe have been facing' contains tense and article errors. While these errors do not completely obscure meaning, their frequency prevents the essay from reaching a higher band.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.