Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-29
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 todays world everything is online and in our smartphones. We can work through smartphones, we can book an appointment, we can book our flight we can do whatever we want to. And in this hustle and bustle life we can also find any piece of entertainment online without any cost.
Some people believe that in this digital era, theatres and cinemas are not important as before. Whereas, I believe that they are right. We have everything available online. We have different platforms to watch movies or series online. People who want to go to theatre and cinema are in minority. For instance, during COVID people have nothing to do. They just need to stay at home. Everything shutdown at that time. So, people were doing all stuff online like watching movies, selling foods or doing their work from home to bear their expenses.
In contrast, some people prefer to go outside to get rid of all work relate stress. They believe that theatre and cinemas play important role in their life to think about themselves and to take time for us. They commute here and there, meet their friends in cinemas and spend some quality time with them which is not possible if they watch everything online. Aproportion of individuals believe that all the movies are not available online we have to pay for some subscription to get access. So, the believe to go out and watch movies online and support the theatres economically as well.
To sum up, my opinion is we should go out and plan to watch a movie in the theatre is a good experience to meet family and friends and spend some quality time that might help our brain to feel refresh and energetic.
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 prompt by discussing both views on the importance of theatres and cinemas in the digital age and providing a personal opinion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and occasionally contradictory. For example, in the second paragraph, the writer states that they believe theatres are unimportant, yet in the third paragraph, they introduce counter-arguments about economic support and stress relief before ultimately concluding in favour of theatres in the final paragraph. This creates some confusion regarding the stance. Main ideas are present, such as convenience versus social experience and economic support, but they would benefit from deeper extension and clearer positioning to reach a higher band.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with visible attempts at paragraphing and basic cohesive devices such as 'Some people believe', 'In contrast', and 'To sum up'. However, paragraphing and logical progression are occasionally flawed. The second paragraph abruptly shifts between multiple ideas without smooth transitions, and the third paragraph contains some confusing sentences like 'the believe to go out and watch movies online and support the theatres economically'. Furthermore, pronoun referencing is occasionally unclear, such as shifting between 'we', 'they', and 'us' without consistent control. Cohesive devices are at times mechanical or inaccurate, which pulls this criterion down to a band 5.5.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate to communicate basic ideas, but it remains somewhat limited and repetitive. The writer relies on common phrases like 'hustle and bustle life', 'everything is online', and 'quality time'. There are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'work relate stress' instead of 'work-related stress', 'foods' instead of 'food', and 'feel refresh' instead of 'feel refreshed'. Less common lexical items are attempted, but inaccuracies in form and collocation are frequent. Spelling is generally acceptable, but the vocabulary range restricts the score to a band 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, though complex structures frequently contain grammatical errors. Examples of errors include 'In todays world' (missing apostrophe), 'Everything shutdown at that time' (tense agreement), 'people have nothing to do. They just need to stay at home' (aspect inconsistency), and 'plan to watch a movie in the theatre is a good experience' (grammatical mismatch). While communication is not severely impeded, the high frequency of grammatical errors in complex structures places this performance firmly at a band 5.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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