Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-13

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people say that in the digital age, theatres and cinemas are no longer important as people can watch all the entertainment they want online. Others argue that theatres and cinemas are still important both economically and culturally.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

In this digital era, people prefer to watch entertainment online instead of going to a theatre or a cinema. Watching media at home is convenient and extremely cheap in comparison to cost of going to a theatre or cinema. However, theatres and cinemas are necessary economically because they attract tourists' attention, while culturally significant because they lay the foundations of film industry.

It is convenient to watch from home as one can choose from a wide range of plays or movies at a cheaper cost, where many people can watch simultaneously. Whereas, when one has to see a play or a movie, a hefty ticket price per person needs to be paid. One can eat as many kinds of snacks one prefers whereas, in theatre or cinema they can eat only what is present at expensive snack bars. Another issue with theatres and cinemas is that people struggle to find their desired seats or preferred number of seats as most of the cinemas or theatres might be booked or airing shows at the time when one is unable to go, these issues or not found in watching movies or plays remotely.

However, theatres and cinemas carry an economic and cultural importance for a society. Our media is shaped according to the values presented in theatre plays. Theatres are the backbone of film industries, it provides foundational training for young actors or actresses. If there are no theatres in the future, people will struggle to find a training ground for their film careers. Theatres and cinema industry is extremely crucial for bringing tourism to a country. There are many foreigners who want to explore and study a country's art style, whether in film making or in theatrical plays.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the decline of physical theatres and cinemas in the digital age and their enduring economic and cultural importance. The writer also briefly touches upon their own perspective, noting the competing arguments of convenience versus value. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the points regarding home viewing in the second paragraph are slightly repetitive and lack deeper elaboration. The conclusion is also missing, as the essay ends abruptly in the middle of the third paragraph without a proper summarising statement or explicit positioning statement. This corresponds to a Band 6, where the task is addressed, but certain aspects remain under-developed or incomplete.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, separating the introduction, the arguments for online viewing, and the counter-arguments for physical venues. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'However' and 'Whereas'. However, referencing and cohesion occasionally feel mechanical or awkward, such as the abrupt transition in 'Whereas, when one has to see a play...' and the grammatical mismatch in 'these issues or not found'. Paragraphing is attempted, but the lack of a concluding paragraph disrupts the overall structural progression. These limitations place the response comfortably within the Band 6 descriptor, where organisation is generally clear but some cohesive relationships are faulty.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms like 'digital era', 'simultaneously', 'foundational training', and 'cultural importance'. There are some successful attempts at less common vocabulary, though precision is sometimes lacking, such as writing 'tourists' attention' instead of 'tourism revenue' or 'attracting tourists'. Minor collocation or word choice slips occur, like 'these issues or not found' (are not found). Nevertheless, meaning is never impeded by lexical inadequacies. This performance matches Band 6, which requires an adequate vocabulary range that allows for attempts at less common items despite occasional inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures. There are several grammatical errors and punctuation slips throughout the text. For example, 'in comparison to cost' lacks an article, 'one can eat as many kinds of snacks one prefers whereas, in theatre or cinema they can eat only what is present' contains awkward phrasing and pronoun shifts, and 'Theatres are the backbone of film industries, it provides foundational training' features a comma splice. Additionally, 'these issues or not found' contains a spelling error ('or' instead of 'are'). Despite these frequent errors, they rarely impede communication, aligning the response with Band 6 criteria.

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

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