Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-07

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)

On many counts, today's dressing sense of people is persuaded by global fashion drifts. People are following every trend despite of the counter culture. In my opinion, it has negative effects than the positive one.

Firstly, Global fashion shows depicts the culture of Americans or sovereign countries. It is not suitable for all communities. Also, they are not budget friendly. Luxury brands are not affordable by lay person. For example, if an Asian girl wants to purchase single item from DIOR, she must have the budget of millions.

However, each one wants to look nice these days. We have digital devices in our hand, which is an easy access to all kind of fashion activities. people spend all of their savings to join this fashion race, which ultimately harm their financial conditions.

Secondly, from religious point of view, everything trendy style is not for everyone. Each country has its own identity, own fashion or cultural ethics. Everyone should follow them.

Moreover, the only positive impact is that it can be easily accessible for those who can't afford them. As there are many local vendors in the market who sell exact copy of the original style of any high end luxury brand. In this way, local people can also join this trend.

In my opinion it has both negative of positive effects on people's lives. Everyone should practice a balanced approach to follow any fashion trend.

Overall, fashion industries should also work keenly on their prices or designs. If its a globally recognized brand, then it should be suitable for each community.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, identifying reasons for the influence of global fashion and providing an opinion on its impact. However, the development of ideas is somewhat inconsistent. While you mention financial strain and cultural identity, the arguments are brief and lack depth. For instance, the point about 'local vendors' selling copies is an interesting observation but is not fully integrated into your argument about whether the trend is positive or negative. To improve, ensure each paragraph has a clear topic sentence and provides a more detailed explanation or a concrete example to support your claims, rather than listing points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your argument. However, the use of cohesive devices is sometimes mechanical or slightly inaccurate. For example, the transition 'However, each one wants to look nice' does not logically contrast with the previous paragraph about luxury brands. Additionally, the final paragraph introduces a new idea about industry responsibility rather than summarizing your main points. To reach a higher band, focus on using a wider variety of linking words (e.g., 'consequently,' 'furthermore,' 'in contrast') and ensure that each paragraph flows logically from the one before it.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'sovereign countries,' 'cultural ethics,' and 'high end luxury brand.' However, there are several instances of awkward phrasing and word choice errors, such as 'dressing sense of people is persuaded by global fashion drifts' (should be 'influenced by global fashion trends') and 'negative effects than the positive one' (should be 'more negative than positive effects'). Some vocabulary is repetitive, and there are minor errors in collocation. Expanding your range of topic-specific vocabulary and focusing on natural collocations will help improve your score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally distract the reader. Examples include 'despite of' (should be 'despite'), 'Luxury brands are not affordable by lay person' (should be 'the layperson'), and 'everything trendy style is not for everyone' (should be 'not every trendy style'). Subject-verb agreement and article usage are inconsistent throughout the text. To improve, focus on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy and practice using more complex sentence structures, such as relative clauses or conditional sentences, with greater precision.

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

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