Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-27

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)

Nowadays, fashion trends are gaining popularity. While, It has some positive and negative sides. This essay will discuss both the views of global fashion trends.

On the one hand, global fashion trends brings some positive changes in people's lives. The main reason is that, In recent times, people are influenced by global fashion trends. People are adopting different fashion trends through social media applications such as Instagram, snapchat and pinterest. Because these applications have millions of followers and everyone style themselves with their own ways. For example, European community follows a different style. They mainly focus on suits and formal boots. In contrast, americans may like to wear jeans and baggy shirts. These different fashion styles makes people curious about global fashion trends. Therefore, it is understandable why some people support this viewpoint.

On the other hand, fashion trends also have some disadvantages. Some fashion influencers on social media mislead the people through unsuitable fashion styles such as punk style, these kind of styles misguided public and create problems in society. For instance, Harry Styles is the prominent example of punk style, although he is a male but he likes to dress like women and using feminine products such as nail-polish and lipsstick. These kind of styles mislead the youngsters. As a result, they forget their dignity and follows the people who may ruining the society.

To sum up, fashion trends have both positive and negative sides. But, it's positive side is better than its negative side. Although, its' positive side has more benefits. It not only helps people to style better but also tell tehm to look different and manly in society. Therefore, everyone should follow fashion trends responsibly.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both parts of the prompt: you identify social media as a way global fashion spreads, and you give a view that its positive effects outweigh its negative ones. However, the explanation of how fashion became influential is only partly developed; naming Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest does not explain in much detail how exposure, advertising or celebrity influence changes people’s choices. The positive and negative examples are also broad, and the claim that certain styles “mislead” young people is asserted rather than supported with a clear consequence. Your position is present, especially in the conclusion, but it would be stronger if stated directly in the introduction and justified with more balanced, relevant reasoning.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two contrasting body paragraphs and a conclusion. “On the one hand,” “On the other hand” and “To sum up” help signal the main stages. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear: the discussion moves from social-media platforms to national clothing preferences without explaining the connection, and the example about Harry Styles does not clearly demonstrate the claimed social harm. Some linking phrases are repetitive or awkward, such as “Therefore, it is understandable why some people support this viewpoint.” Pronoun reference in “these kind of styles” and “its positive side” is also unclear. Develop each paragraph around one central point and connect examples explicitly to it.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the general subject, including “global fashion trends,” “influencers,” “formal boots” and “baggy shirts.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “mislead” and “prominent example.” However, the range is limited and several choices or collocations are inaccurate, which sometimes makes the meaning less precise: “style themselves with their own ways,” “mislead the people through unsuitable fashion styles,” and “ruining the society” are not natural formulations. Spelling errors such as “lipsstick” and “tehm” further reduce accuracy. Build a wider set of precise expressions for influence and its effects, and check spelling and collocations when editing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt some complex structures, including “While…” and “although…,” and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently in both simple and more complex sentences. Examples include the subject–verb agreement errors “fashion trends brings” and “These different fashion styles makes,” as well as “everyone … follows” after a plural subject. The sentence beginning “While, It has…” is incomplete, and “although he is a male but…” combines contrasting structures incorrectly. There are also problems with articles, plurals and punctuation, including unnecessary commas and inconsistent capitalisation. Practise building accurate sentences with one clear main clause, then add subordinate clauses and check agreement.

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