Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-27

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)

A numerous people have started following the global or western fashion trends. In this essay we are going to discuss the reasons of this dominant change and whether it should be considered as positive or negative.

Society prefer to follow global fashion trends, which mostly involves western clothing. The cause of this could be a personal preference or the influence of media. However, this somehow diminishing our cultural values and traditional aspects.

Many people prefer to follow global trends and wear western clothes, the reason of this might be a personal choice as they are slightly more comfortable than our traditional clothes and are easier to buy. Moreover, The media can also be the reason of this impact of the global fashion on the way people dress. The people are usually tend to do what they see and like. Also they follow the steps of the people they admire, such as celebrities or singers. Therefore, media plays a big role in setting fashion trends.

However, what people wear is their personal preference, but it's affecting our cultural values. If we always wear the similar clothes matching with western tradition, people would soon forget about out culture. We should strive to follow our traditional norms and should also wear our cultural dresses as well. This way we'll stay connected with our roots. Men can sometimes wear Shalwar Kurta, whereas, women can wear stoles, with whatever they wear be it western or eastern clothing, to represent their norms and culture.

So to conclude, while it's completely fine to wear what you like, we should never entirely abandon our traditional clothes.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: how global fashion became influential and whether this is a positive or negative development. The writer presents a clear position, noting that while personal preference and media drive these trends, they also pose a threat to cultural values, suggesting solutions like blending traditional garments with western wear. However, some ideas are repetitive and underdeveloped. For instance, the discussion on personal preference and media is introduced in the second paragraph and then largely repeated in the third. While the task is adequately addressed to earn a Band 6.0, further extension and less repetition of the core ideas would be necessary to reach the higher bands.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a generally coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. Paragraphing is utilised to separate distinct points, though the division could be refined, as the second and third paragraphs heavily overlap in content. Cohesive devices are present, such as 'Moreover', 'Therefore', and 'However', but some transitions feel mechanical or repetitive, such as the frequent use of 'however' and 'the reason of this'. Referencing is mostly clear, though some pronoun ambiguity exists. The progression of ideas stalls slightly due to the repetitive nature of the arguments, keeping the coherence at a Band 6.0 level.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to communicate basic ideas about fashion, culture, and media influence. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'diminishing', 'preferences', and 'celebrities', but word choice and collocation errors are noticeable throughout. For example, the student writes 'A numerous people' instead of 'Numerous people' or 'A large number of people', and uses 'follow the steps' instead of 'follow in the footsteps'. Spelling and word-choice errors occur, but they do not impede communication, placing the response firmly in the Band 6.0 range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses and conditional structures. However, grammatical errors are frequent. Notable errors include subject-verb agreement issues, such as 'Society prefer' instead of 'Society prefers' or 'People prefer', and preposition errors like 'influence of the global fashion on the way people dress'. Additionally, phrasing such as 'what they see and like' and 'whatever they wear be it western' reveals awkward syntactical control. While these errors rarely impede overall communication, the frequent mistakes prevent the grammar score from rising above Band 5.5.

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