Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-08-12

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In many countries, people do not recycle their rubbish as much as they could.

Why do you think this is?

What can be done to change this?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.0)

More and more people are doing their shopping online instead of in physical stores.

Do advantages outweigh disadvantages of online shopping.

A greater number of people prefer to use online websites for shopping rather than visiting retail stores. Although this trend is widely spread due to their flexibility and cost-effectiveness, the demerit like online scam cannot be overlooked.

One of the notable drawback is digital fraud, which means when individuals fill online details, while placing an online orders, this information could be saved in the system and misused by some scammers for transferring entire money their accounts. For instance, application such as Temu, demand to save credit or debit card's detail in the website for further orders and it is acknowledged that this information leaked when scammers hanged it. Thus, this is considered as an imperative disadvantage of internet shopping.

Despite this challenge, the benefits of using online platforms for shopping are far more significant. To begin with, the flexibility of online shopping, which helps consumers to carry out shopping at their convenience. This is remarkably beneficial for people who has limited time to explore independent stores. Furthermore, comparing prices is another sophisticated feature of online shopping because clients can compare cost of the product with different websites and select those, which provides them legitimate price. For example, The Flipp is a digital website, which matches the product and display the website where people can purchase it at lower cost. Consequently, these are the main advantages, which make lives easier by their accessibility and affordability.

In conclusion, even though scams can be occurred by internet shopping, the merits of it cannot be overlooked because it is not only available for 24/7 but also shows the price range, by which people can compare them with diverse websites.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response2.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy6.0
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 2.0

The response is completely off-topic. The prompt asks for an essay about recycling rubbish, but you have written an essay about the advantages and disadvantages of online shopping. Because you have failed to address the task requirements entirely, the score for Task Achievement is severely impacted. While you have developed ideas regarding online shopping, they do not relate to the prompt provided. To improve, you must carefully read the task instructions and ensure your content directly answers the specific question asked.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You use cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'Furthermore', and 'In conclusion' to link your ideas. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the discussion of disadvantages and advantages. While the content is irrelevant to the prompt, the structure itself is coherent and follows a standard essay format. The progression of ideas is logical, and referencing is generally clear throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'cost-effectiveness', 'digital fraud', 'imperative', and 'sophisticated'. There are some minor errors in word choice, such as 'scams can be occurred' (should be 'scams can occur') and 'hanged it' (likely meant 'hacked it'). However, the vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly. You attempt to use less common lexical items, which shows a good effort, though some collocations could be more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'One of the notable drawback' (should be 'drawbacks'), 'people who has' (should be 'people who have'), and 'demand to save credit or debit card's detail' (should be 'details'). Despite these errors, the meaning is generally clear and communication is not significantly impeded. You show an attempt to use complex sentences, but control over subject-verb agreement and pluralization needs improvement to reach a higher band.

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

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