Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-07
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
Many aspects of the way people dress today are influenced by global fashion trends.
How has global fashion become such a strong influence on people's lives? Do you think this is a positive or negative development?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
In recent years, dressing has become most important part of human's lives. People giving more attention to dressing style. Specially, young people take dressing more seriously and ready to spend extra money for looking better. I believe that this change has both positive and negative development on society and people's lives.
On the one hand, dressing style has big influence on human's mind. People are always try to follow new trends and designs. Specially, young people are giving more important to dressing style. In addition, they always want to wear stylish dresses and follow the trends. Nowadays, people are influencing by watching their favorite celebrities wearing different outfits of new trends and try to copy their outfits. Moreover, shopping malls are now offering more attractive offers on new trends and have stock of new trends more in comparison to old fashioned clothes.
On the contrary, organizations are now hiring the celebrities which attract the youths for purchasing clothes of new trends for show-off. These clothes have more cost compared to regular clothes which affect the youths economically and they end up spending more on the clothes. Furthermore, the old fashioned clothes that are stocked in the shops remained at corner and affect the shopkeepers. Likewise, global fashion trends affect the sales of local shopkeepers.
To summarize, following the global fashion trends help the youths to show-off their wealthiness and stay up to date in the society. Meanwhile, it has certain drawbacks which affect the local vendors and their financial conditions as they run off the sales of old fashioned clothes.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the reasons for the influence of global fashion and the evaluation of whether this is positive or negative. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. For instance, the explanation of why fashion is influential relies heavily on repetition regarding 'young people' and 'celebrities' rather than exploring broader socio-economic or psychological factors. While a position is clear, the arguments lack depth and specific examples, often feeling repetitive. To reach a higher band, you should expand on the 'why' behind these trends—such as the role of social media algorithms or the psychological need for social belonging—rather than simply stating that people follow trends.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas from the introduction to the conclusion. You use some cohesive devices like 'On the one hand,' 'On the contrary,' and 'To summarize' to signal shifts in the argument. However, the internal cohesion within paragraphs is sometimes mechanical. For example, the repetition of 'Specially' and 'In addition' at the start of sentences creates a somewhat choppy flow. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the final paragraph where 'it' refers back to the entire concept of fashion trends rather than a specific noun. Improving the variety of linking words would enhance the flow.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. You rely on basic terms like 'dressing style,' 'clothes,' and 'new trends' repeatedly throughout the text. There are also some awkward collocations, such as 'human's lives' (should be 'people's lives') and 'wealthiness' (a non-standard term; 'affluence' or 'wealth' would be better). The range is sufficient to communicate your meaning, but it does not demonstrate the flexibility or the use of less common lexical items required for a higher band score. To improve, try to incorporate more sophisticated synonyms and topic-specific collocations related to consumerism and societal influence.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
There is a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but the accuracy is inconsistent. You frequently omit articles ('the' before 'dressing style' or 'the' before 'youths') and struggle with subject-verb agreement, such as 'People are always try' (should be 'People always try') and 'people are influencing' (should be 'people are influenced'). These errors are frequent and occasionally distract the reader. While the meaning remains clear, the lack of control over basic grammatical structures prevents a higher score. Focus on mastering article usage and ensuring that passive voice constructions are formed correctly to improve your accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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