Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-07

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 6.5)

The fashion industry has changed the way people style themselves today. The new trends emerging globally have had a significant impact on the way people clothe. In my view, the negatives of this development outweigh the positives.

People did not create a fuss about what they wore prior to these trends emerging. The biggest platform to market these trends has been social media. Social media has changed the perception of people's clothing. Fashion outlets are running large scale campaigns of their new collections with actors being the face of the posters. People now tend to be very selective of what they wear and how it aligns with the craze. People are flocking to buy new items being released in these campaigns. These developments have more drawbacks than benefits.

The global fashion craze has had some positive impact on people as well. The fashion craze has allowed people to demonstrate their creativity. They can experiment with clothing in different colors and styles. It allows people to think out of the box. For example, professors have noted in universities, that they are seeing more vibrant colors in classrooms. Dull minds are now thinking of innovative ways to dress up demonstrating the positive impacts of this new influence.

However, this fashion vogue has severe drawbacks as well. People are now becoming materialistic. A person's worth in society is being determined by the clothes he wears. For instance, in schools a lot of kids have started boasting about the brands of the clothes they wear. This in turn has also led people to become more pretentious. People try to mock celebrities even if they do not resonate with them.

In conclusion, the global fashion craze promotes more self obsession and materialism rather than allowing people to show their creativity. This leads to people trying to be what they are not. People should not obsess over fashion campaigns, rather be their own selves.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your response addresses both parts of the question: you explain social media and fashion campaigns as influences, and you clearly judge the development to be more negative than positive. The discussion of materialism is relevant and supported by the example of children boasting about clothing brands. However, the explanation of how global fashion became influential is narrower than it could be: social media and advertising are mentioned, but their reach and mechanisms are not explored in much detail. The positive point about creativity is also asserted more than developed; the example of brighter classroom clothing does not fully show how global trends encourage creativity. Extending these explanations with clearer cause-and-effect reasoning would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay has a clear overall structure, moving from the influence of social media to a positive effect, then drawbacks and a conclusion. Paragraphing helps the reader distinguish these stages, and signposts such as “However” and “In conclusion” make the direction easy to follow. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent organisation and shows some of the flexibility associated with stronger cohesion. At times, though, links are mechanical or ideas are repeated: “These developments have more drawbacks than benefits” anticipates the later evaluation, while “fashion craze” recurs several times. Some references are also unclear, particularly “People try to mock celebrities,” which does not clearly connect to the preceding point about pretentiousness. Use more precise links and develop each paragraph’s central idea before moving on.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range for the topic, including “global fashion trends,” “materialistic,” “selective,” and “demonstrate their creativity.” There are also attempts at less common expressions, such as “out of the box” and “fashion vogue.” However, some choices are inaccurate or unnatural, which limits precision: “the way people clothe” is not idiomatic, and “mock celebrities” does not convey the likely meaning of imitating them. “Dull minds” is also an unsuitable phrase for describing people’s clothing choices. Repetition of “fashion craze” and “people” reduces variety. Aim for natural collocations and precise wording rather than choosing elevated-sounding terms that do not fit the intended meaning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, and most sentences communicate their meaning clearly. For example, “People are now becoming materialistic” is controlled, while the sentence beginning “For example” attempts to add a supporting clause. Some grammatical and punctuation errors remain. In “professors have noted in universities, that,” the comma incorrectly separates the reporting phrase from “that”; “professors at universities have noted that” would be clearer. “The fashion craze has allowed people to demonstrate their creativity” is followed by “It allows,” creating a slightly awkward shift in reference and tense. The sentence “People try to mock celebrities even if they do not resonate with them” also has an unclear pronoun reference. Continue varying sentence structures, while checking punctuation, tense consistency and clear references.

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