Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Momentum Workout · 2026-09-26

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In some societies, obesity is regarded as a major problem. Some people believe that junk food advertising is largely to blame for this problem and should be banned. However, others feel that junk food advertising does not contribute to the problem of obesity and should not be banned.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience·and support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence. Write at least 250 words.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

In the contemporary world,being fat is considered to be a major issue,few believing that the advertisement of junk products should be prohibited,as it stands out to be the biggest challenge,while some believe the opposite,I somewhat believe that this could be an issue or it could be not.

The primary reason of obesity,is the use of various food advertisement by any means such as brochure,TVCs,featuring in a magazine or the colorful and funky appearances of their outlets.For instance,the restaurant that is constructed in a fun manner is likely to be visited more as compared to those whose infrastructure is just normal.In this way,the young children gets attracted from it and starts eating the food which is full of junk and from there the journey to obesity starts.Moreover,when a person has eaten the junk food of aspecific restaurant once,he will have cravings for it no matter how much one tries to control,this is also a reason.

Today ,the problem of obesity is increasing at a high rate as the lifestyles of the individuals also has an effect on their physical conditions.For example,the trend of work from home has surged rapidly in the recent years, due to this the humans do not feel the tendency to get up from their workplace and do a physical activity they are supposed to sit in a certain place for long hours and due to this their body swells up and as a result they are considered to be an obese person.

In the conclusion,it is clear that the issue of obesity is only related to the person himself,and then the producers of the food also play a key role ,whereas the people should also do some physical exercises in order to maintain themselves.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views on whether junk food advertising contributes to obesity and whether it should be banned, while also offering a personal opinion. However, the position is somewhat hesitant and unclear in the introduction, where the writer states, 'I somewhat believe that this could be an issue or it could be not.' Furthermore, the development of ideas lacks clarity in places, particularly in the third paragraph, which pivots abruptly to discuss remote work lifestyles rather than focusing primarily on the advertising debate. The ideas presented are relevant, but some aspects of the arguments are under-developed and lack specific, robust supporting evidence. Consequently, the response earns a band 6.0 for Task Achievement, as it covers all requirements of the prompt but contains under-developed support and a less than fully clear overarching position.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a discernible progression of ideas across paragraphs, moving from an introduction to arguments about advertising, lifestyle factors, and a brief conclusion. However, cohesion is frequently faulty and mechanical. There are noticeable issues with punctuation and spacing (e.g., missing spaces after commas such as 'world,being' and 'Today ,the'), which disrupts the flow of reading. Furthermore, referencing and cohesive links between sentences are occasionally weak, such as the abrupt transition into the third paragraph discussing 'work from home' trends without a clear cohesive tie back to the main thesis. Paragraphing is attempted, but the internal logical connections within paragraphs require tighter management. Based on these features, the response aligns best with the band 6.0 descriptors for Coherence and Cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating topic-related terms such as 'obesity', 'advertising', 'cravings', and 'physical activity'. However, there are notable limitations in lexical control and word choice. For instance, the phrase 'being fat' in the opening sentence is informal and imprecise compared to standard academic vocabulary. Additionally, there are awkward collocations and word choices, such as 'food advertisement by any means such as brochure,TVCs' and 'body swells up'. Spelling and word-formation errors occur, but they do not severely impede communication. Because the vocabulary demonstrates an adequate range with some attempts at less common items accompanied by noticeable inaccuracies, a band score of 6.0 is appropriate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses and conditional structures (e.g., 'no matter how much one tries to control,this is also a reason'). However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent punctuation errors, particularly comma splices and missing spaces after punctuation marks (e.g., 'obesity,is', 'conclusion,it'). Furthermore, subject-verb agreement and article usage errors appear throughout the text, such as 'the young children gets attracted' and 'the humans do not feel the tendency'. While these errors do not completely obscure the meaning, they occur regularly and prevent the response from achieving a higher band. Therefore, a band score of 5.5 is assigned for Grammatical Range and Accuracy.

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.