Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-30
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 influence the way people dress today in many different point of views.Among them the social media is the main reason and it creates a negative impact on the young generation.
In this modern era the global fashion trends change abruptly especially on social media. Youth nowadays are using social media like instagram, twitter, and youtube for entertainment, and the trendsetters find the social media platforms the best way to promote a new fashion. Additionally, it has become a piece of cake for a fashion brand to advertise their new product and when that specific product is used by a broader audience it becomes a trend. As a result the fashion brands experience a hike in their sales and they increase the prices of their product. For example, while watching reels I saw a sweat shirt with a very unique design costing around $90, but when that brand shipped a public relation package to a famous social media influencer they increased the price to $200 because the followers of that creator started a trend of that specific designed shirt.
While its not bad to set a trend, the way people react to a trend and the unfair advantage the fashion brands gain makes it a negative development. We've seen people nowadays treating fashion trends as a status symbol because they think they are the one who can afford those attires and they are relevant to the social media. Furthermore, it is also worth mentioning that the fashion brands are the one who makes the product expensive as soon as they are in trend. It then makes difficult for some people to afford that clothing and may trigger their insecurities.
In conclusion, I believe that global fashion trends are being set the wrong way. The stake holders in the fashion industry should take a stance making sure that if they are creating a trend then they should make sure that its kept at an affordable price for everyone.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| 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: how global fashion has become influential, and whether this development is positive or negative. The writer identifies social media as the main driver of fashion trends and clearly takes a negative stance, arguing that inflated prices and status symbols trigger insecurities. The ideas are relevant and supported with an example about a sweatshirt price hike. However, the development tends to be somewhat anecdotal and relies on personal observations rather than broader societal analysis. To achieve a higher band, the ideas would benefit from deeper exploration of consumer psychology or economic factors. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, placing it firmly in the Band 6 territory.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay is divided into logical paragraphs with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing causes and negative impacts, and a brief conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'Additionally', 'As a result', and 'Furthermore' are used to connect ideas, though some transitional phrasing feels slightly mechanical. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as the mechanism of social media influence versus the negative consequences of pricing strategies. Referencing is generally clear, though occasional minor slip-ups in logical progression prevent this from reaching a higher band. The overall arrangement is coherent and easy to follow throughout.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting some less common lexical items such as 'trendsetters', 'status symbol', and 'pr_ublic relation package'. However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as writing 'point of views' instead of 'points of view', and 'a piece of cake' which is overly informal and idiomatic for an academic essay. Spelling is mostly accurate, though there are minor slips like 'sweat shirt' instead of 'sweatshirt' and 'stake holders' instead of 'stakeholders'. These errors do not impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to Band 6.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and subordinate structures successfully (e.g., 'Youth nowadays are using social media... for entertainment, and the trendsetters find...'). However, there are several grammatical errors and punctuation issues throughout the text, such as missing articles ('shipping a public relation package', 'makes difficult for some people'), missing commas in introductory clauses ('While its not bad', 'As a result the fashion'), and an apostrophe omission ('its kept'). Despite these errors, the meaning is rarely obscured, and the sentence structures show good variety, which supports a solid Band 6 performance.
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.