Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-17
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)
Today, global fashion trends influence how people dress around the world. Over the recent years, it has become a hotly debated topic in society. This topic is particularly significant due to its impact on both individuals and communities. In this essay, I will examine the advantages and disadvantages of global fashion trends influence the fashion sense of people and discuss their implications for society.
One of the key benefits is that Global fashion has become very powerful due to the internet and fast-fashion companies. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram allows people to see new clothing style, no matter where they live. At the same time major clothing brands make these trendy clothes quickly and sell them at low prices. Because of this, young people can easily buy and wear clothes like famous celebrities. Therefore, it is clear that the advantages should be given considerable attention.
However, alongside these benefits, there are notable drawbacks. One significant drawback is that it cause traditional clothing to disappear. When everyone wears same clothes, unique local dress culture are slowly forgotten. Furthermore, many of cheap clothing are made for poor-quality materials, so people throw them after wearing them just a few times. This creating a huge amounts of waste and pollution. In addition fast-fashion creates additional challenges, affecting both individuals and society.
In conclusion, I believe that global fashion trends presents both advantages and disadvantages that must be considered. Moreover, global fashion is gives people more style choices, the loss of cultural identity and damage to the environment make it a negative trend overall. Moving forward, it is important to enhance its benefits while minimizing its negative effects, in order to ensure positive outcomes for individuals and society.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses both parts of the prompt, exploring reasons for the influence of global fashion (internet, fast fashion) and providing a clear stance on whether it is positive or negative. The introduction outlines the essay plan, though the phrasing 'global fashion trends influence the fashion sense of people' is a bit repetitive. In the body paragraphs, ideas are extended with relevant examples regarding social media and environmental impact. However, some arguments lack deeper elaboration. For instance, the mention that traditional clothing disappears is valid, but it could be supported with a concrete example. The conclusion successfully reiterates the writer's position. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, placing it at a Band 6.5.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay displays a clear overall progression with standard paragraphing, featuring an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed to link ideas, such as 'One of the key benefits', 'At the same time', and 'In conclusion'. However, there are some issues with mechanical linking and referencing errors. For example, 'This creating a huge amounts of waste' uses incorrect verb forms and dangling reference structures. Paragraphing is logical, separating the benefits and drawbacks, but the internal flow of sentences could be smoother. Referencing is occasionally imprecise, leading to a Band 6.0 performance for coherence and cohesion.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with some attempts at less common lexical items such as 'hotly debated topic', 'celebrities', and 'environmental impact'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies throughout the text. For example, the student writes 'clothing style' instead of 'clothing styles', 'traditional clothing' instead of 'traditional attire', and 'poor-quality materials' used with an incorrect prepositional flow ('made for' instead of 'made from'). Additionally, spelling and morphological errors occur, such as 'trends presents' and 'is gives'. These inaccuracies place the lexical resource firmly at a Band 6.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating relative clauses ('platforms like TikTok and Instagram allows') and conditional or causal links ('Because of this, young people can easily buy...'). However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several subject-verb agreement errors ('Instagram allows', 'trends presents', 'fashion is gives'), article errors ('wear same clothes'), and tense/form issues ('it cause', 'this creating'). While the communication is generally clear and these errors rarely impede overall understanding, the frequency of basic grammatical slips prevents the score from reaching a higher band. Control of grammar corresponds to a Band 6.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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