Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-24

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)

It is assumed that the way people dress these days is affected by global fashion trends. With the social media, global fashion has caused a major effect on people's lives. I think this a negative development as there are many people who can not afford to get clothes that are brand new in the market. Moreover, today's youth is indulged in fashion trends instead of living a normal life. This is causing a major financial and psychological drawback in their lives.

Firstly, with growing inflation throughtout the world, there is a great number of individual who can not afford to have luxury dressings unlike posh people. Young population, that go to univerisities and workplaces, wearing clothes that are the regarded as old trends, have setback in their motivation and the way of living. For example, in universities and workplaces there are people from all backgrounds. Some of them are living from hand to mouth. When they look at other people who are wearing better and more appealing dress, this causes a strong mental and psychological trauma.

Moreover, with being unable to get along with the latest global trends, the youth start spending more time on correcting their way of dressing at the cost of their studies and career goals. For example, actors and actresses are being paid to wear and promote new dresses. By watching these performers, it creates an argue among population to follow them, ultimately distracting them from other important things in life.

In conclusion, i believe global fashion trend has casued major financial, emotional and mental setback in people's life throughout the globe.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing why global fashion is influential and presenting a clear position that this is a negative development. The student identifies social media, inflation, and celebrity culture as contributing factors, and outlines the negative financial and psychological impacts on the youth. However, the ideas lack full extension and deep elaboration. For instance, the claim that fashion causes 'strong mental and psychological trauma' among university students is an overgeneralisation and feels somewhat exaggerated without sufficient contextual support. While all parts of the task are addressed, the arguments remain somewhat superficial and would benefit from more concrete real-world examples rather than broad assertions. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, placing it firmly in the Band 6 territory.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement and logical progression of ideas. Paragraphing is utilised appropriately to separate the introduction, two body paragraphs presenting distinct arguments, and a brief conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed to signal transitions between ideas, such as 'Firstly' and 'Moreover', though some referencing is slightly clumsy or mechanical. For example, the phrase 'with being unable to get along' sounds awkward, and the pronoun reference in sentences like 'this creates an argue among population' lacks clear antecedent precision. Furthermore, the single-sentence conclusion is underdeveloped. Despite these minor issues, the progression of the essay is easy to follow, satisfying the requirements for a Band 6.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'global fashion trends', 'psychological drawback', and 'living from hand to mouth'. However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and word formation throughout the text. Examples include 'youth is indulged in fashion trends' (instead of engaged or absorbed), 'throughtout' (spelling error), 'luxury dressings' (instead of luxury clothing), 'the regarded as old trends' (grammatical/lexical slip), and 'creates an argue' (incorrect noun form, should be 'argument'). While these errors are frequent, they do not impede communication, as the writer's core message remains understandable, aligning with the Band 6 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, attempting complex forms such as participial phrases ('When they look at other people...') and conditional-like constructions. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, including missing articles ('a great number of individual' instead of 'individuals', 'have setback' instead of 'a setback'), preposition errors ('with the social media'), subject-verb agreement issues, and spelling mistakes like 'casued'. Additionally, the dangling modifier in 'By watching these performers, it creates an argue...' creates grammatical confusion. Because the errors occur frequently throughout the text and require some effort to decode at times, the grammar score reflects a Band 5.5, rounded to 5.5.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.