Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-21
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 the modern era of digitalization many people believes , theatre and cinemas are no longer crucial and relevant because people can consume all entertainment content from online platforms at their home rather than going to theatre and cinema to watch movies . While the other group of peoples argues that cinemas and theatre are still relevant and crucial for culturally as well as economically but from my point of view both are equally important and relevant and both have their benefits and drawbacks but i personally support cinema and theatres over online platforms
Digitalization had a huge impact on peoples way of consuming entertainment, in fact we also know that it also isolate individuals from community and being socialize and keep them in their room and make them more lazy because nowdays, everyone choose convenience and easiness over get of house and standing in ticket counter queue for a ticket than watch movie and wait to get started. whereas, they just buy subscription of online platform such as Amazon Prime, Netflix and so on.
On the other hand, arguments supporting traditional cinemas are compelling. Economically, cinemas are crucial because they generate numerous job opportunities and boost local commercial growth. Culturally, watching films in a theatre fosters a shared sense of community, as audience members experience collective emotional reactions such as laughing or crying together.
In conclusion, I believe that both have their own advantages and disadvantages but from my point of view i will support theatres and cinemas group of people side because it far outweigh the advantages over the online entertairment platform.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the view that theatres and cinemas are no longer important due to online entertainment and the view that they remain culturally and economically significant. A position is presented, stating that while both sides have merits, cinemas and theatres are ultimately preferred. However, the development of ideas in the second paragraph is somewhat limited and repetitive, touching upon isolation and convenience without fully extending the argument with specific examples. While the prompt is adequately covered, the supporting arguments would benefit from greater depth and clearer elaboration to achieve a higher band score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement and attempts a logical progression of ideas. Paragraphing is used to separate the introduction, body arguments, and conclusion. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition at the beginning of the second paragraph uses 'Digitalization had a huge impact' rather than a cohesive linking phrase, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the ambiguous use of pronouns. Cohesive devices like 'whereas' and 'On the other hand' are included, but sentence-to-sentence flow is hindered by punctuation errors and run-on structures, making the overall cohesion slightly disjointed.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'digitalization', 'subscription', 'commercial growth', and 'collective emotional reactions'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward collocations throughout the text, such as 'peoples way' instead of 'people's way', 'for culturally' instead of 'culturally', and 'entertairment' (spelling error). The repetition of words like 'important', 'relevant', and 'crucial' indicates a lack of lexical flexibility. While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the main points, these word choice and spelling errors prevent it from reaching a higher band level.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, though complex structures are frequently marred by grammatical errors. Examples of errors include subject-verb agreement issues like 'many people believes', incorrect prepositions such as 'at their home' instead of 'at home', and run-on sentences with missing punctuation, notably in the overly long introductory sentence. Punctuation is generally weak, with missing commas and periods causing sentences to drag. Although the meaning remains understandable despite these frequent errors, the lack of consistent error-free sentences keeps the score at a Band 5.0 level.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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