Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-04
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 contemporary society, the young generation is influenced by the international fashion trends, and they usually spend a significant proportion of their money on purchasing trending clothing items. Companies usually hire celebrities for advertisement. In addition, social media also plays a crucial role for attracting customers. However, there are both pros and cons to this decision. In this essay, I will discuss some of the main reasons why fashion industry has a strong influence on individual's lives and some of the challenges to be overcome.
Lets begin by looking at the issue how fashion industry always able to gather the attraction of individuals. Fashion companies hire the influential people like sport players, athletes and actors. To be more precise, companies pay to players to wear their brand's product. In result, when fans look their ideal to wear specific brand they tried to copy them.
One of the main positives of follow the fashion industry is that, individual will feel more up to date, ultimately it will boost his confidence. For instance, reports suggest us that those employs who follow global fashion are more confident in their job.
Turning to the other side of argument, critics raised a valid concern. Fashion industry is always evolving and updating rapidly, therefore to invest lot of money on buying new fashion products is just waste of money.
All things considered, fashion brands use popular public figures to attract the general peoples attention. You need to weigh up the pros of being confident while following the trend, with the cons of invest lot of resources while purchasing branded items. Personally, I believe that in terms of investing huge money on brands outweigh any positives.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| 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 a personal opinion on whether this is positive or negative. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For example, the argument regarding the 'positives' of fashion is supported by a vague reference to 'reports' rather than a concrete, well-explained example. Similarly, the negative aspect is mentioned but lacks depth. The position is clear, but the supporting arguments could be more thoroughly extended to reach a higher band. The essay covers all requirements but remains at a general level of discussion.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'In addition', 'However', and 'Turning to the other side of argument', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions are mechanical or slightly awkward, such as 'Lets begin by looking at the issue how fashion industry always able to gather the attraction'. Referencing is generally clear, but the flow between sentences could be smoother. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion, which provides a coherent structure overall.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks variety and precision. There is some repetition of basic terms like 'fashion industry', 'influence', and 'money'. While the student attempts to use some topic-specific vocabulary (e.g., 'contemporary society', 'public figures'), there are instances of awkward collocations, such as 'gather the attraction' instead of 'capture the attention' and 'reports suggest us' instead of 'reports suggest'. The range is sufficient to convey meaning, but it does not demonstrate the flexibility or sophistication required for a higher band score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors that occur throughout the text, such as 'the issue how fashion industry always able to' (missing verb 'is'), 'pay to players to wear their brand's product' (awkward phrasing), and 'those employs who follow' (incorrect word form: 'employees'). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are minor errors in article usage and subject-verb agreement. While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent the response from reaching a higher band.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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