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)
The global fashion trends has an immense influence on the dressing sense of poeple due to various factors such as new variety of clothes and better fabrics. I think it is a positive development and would help people to stay with modern trends.
The idea of following the global fashion trends gained momentum in recent years due to social media and heavy marketing. In today's world almost everyone uses a mobile phone due to which it becomes easier for companies to introduce their products to people. Sometimes the big companies manipulate people into buying their products by using celebrities to advertise their clothes. By looking at the advertisement of famous personalities the customers are tricked into believing that the outfit is authentic and worth buying. For example, many children recently wanted to buy the crocs by being influenced by their friends and looking at videos on social platforms. Similarly, the youth are desired to buy branded clothes and shoes by watching the international personalities.
The fashion industry is a huge market in current times offering different clothings types. The trends in this industry keeps on changing and people are always keen to stay with the recent trends. Also, the people working in the fashion industry can stay with the latest trends by following the global influence. Most of the students in colleges prefer to wear their daily outfits based on the new styles. The outfit craze has an equal effect on people of all ages and sometimes people like to spend huge chunk of money on their clothing.
In conclusion, I would say that the fashion influence on people is beneficial to stay connected the global fashion but the customers need to be aware of fake marketing moves by companies and avoid unnecessary buying of expensive clothes.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| 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 influence of global fashion and whether this is positive or negative. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. While you mention social media and marketing as drivers, the explanation of why this is a 'positive' development is quite brief and lacks depth. For instance, you mention staying 'modern,' but you do not explore the cultural or economic implications of this. To reach a higher band, ensure that your arguments are fully extended with more specific reasoning or examples, rather than just listing observations like 'students in colleges prefer to wear their daily outfits.'
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a central theme. You use some cohesive devices such as 'In today's world,' 'For example,' and 'In conclusion' to guide the reader. However, the flow between sentences is occasionally mechanical, and some transitions feel repetitive. For example, the start of the third paragraph ('The fashion industry is a huge market...') feels slightly disconnected from the previous point about social media. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that each sentence flows naturally from the previous one would enhance the overall coherence.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
You have an adequate range of vocabulary to convey your meaning, such as 'gained momentum,' 'manipulate,' and 'authentic.' However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'dressing sense of poeple' (should be 'people's fashion sense'), 'youth are desired to buy' (should be 'youth desire to buy'), and 'clothings types' (should be 'clothing types'). The vocabulary is generally functional but lacks the precision and sophistication required for higher bands. Focus on learning collocations—words that naturally go together—to sound more natural.
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 subject-verb agreement issues ('The global fashion trends has,' 'The trends... keeps on changing') and article usage errors. While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. You should focus on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and pluralization. Additionally, try to incorporate a wider variety of complex sentence structures, such as conditional sentences or relative clauses, to demonstrate greater grammatical control.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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