Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-05

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)

Today, some people argue that the cinemas and theatres lost their significance as the world evolves digitally. Moreover, the OTT and other digital platforms are being utilized by the people to spend their good time. However, another of school of thought, say that the cinema theatres are not only the entertainment place but it has importance both socially and culturally. To my opinion, I believe that many youth is now losing their interest in cinemas, and prefer to watch Netflix together.

The main reason of losing interest in cinemas, by the youth, is that it is not justified with respect to its cost. As in Pakistan, it costs around 1000 ruppees per person. On the contrary, the subscription to digital platforms is 3 times less than the ticket of 1 movie in cinema. Another reason is related to the busy schedule. To watch a movie, one has to book it before, and have to be punctual in order to utilize that money, he spent. Similarly, their is limited amount of choices in movies and one have to chose from that available list. On the contrary, digital platforms like netflix hasn't these issues. A person can watch whatever and whenever he wants. This facility is the main reason of increasing popularity among the digital entertaining platforms.

Although, cinemas are often considered only as an entertaining place yet they have clear importance in promoting socialism that ultimately results in exchanging different cultures. Different people from different castes get together to watch a single movie, develops the sense of care amongst the viewers.

At the end, people are now diverting their interests towards digital entertainment, ignoring the importance of cinemas beyond entertainment. I believe that awareness about the significance of cinemas must be given to youth so that our cultural and social life, can be preserved.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views—the decline of cinemas due to digital platforms and their ongoing economic and cultural importance—while also presenting a clear personal opinion. However, the development of ideas is uneven. While the second body paragraph offers detailed reasons regarding cost and convenience supported by a local example from Pakistan and a comparison with Netflix, the third body paragraph regarding cultural benefits is somewhat under-developed and relies on vague generalizations, such as 'promoting socialism that ultimately results in exchanging different cultures.' To move to a higher level, the writer needs to extend all main ideas with more robust elaboration and specific examples rather than leaving some points surface-level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a concluding stance. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct ideas, such as financial and scheduling reasons in the second paragraph versus social and cultural impacts in the third. Nevertheless, cohesion is occasionally mechanical or faulty. The use of transitions like 'On the contrary' is repetitive, and referencing devices can be imprecise, such as 'the viewer' and 'he spent,' which make the logical progression feel a bit disjointed in places. Achieving a higher band would require a smoother, more flexible range of cohesive devices and more precise referencing to guide the reader seamlessly through the arguments.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common terms such as 'significance,' 'subscription,' and 'convenience.' However, there are noticeable lexical errors and inappropriate word choices throughout the text, such as 'lost their significance' instead of 'have lost,' 'ruppees' (spelling), 'socialism' instead of 'sociability' or 'social cohesion,' and 'hasn't these issues' instead of 'do not have these issues.' These errors in word choice, spelling, and collocation do not impede overall communication, but they restrict the score. To improve, the writer should focus on precise lexical control, accurate spellings, and appropriate collocations for abstract concepts.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt to incorporate subordinate clauses and varied structures. However, frequent grammatical and punctuation errors are present. Examples include article errors ('the cinemas,' 'the youth'), subject-verb agreement issues ('another of school of thought, say,' 'one have to chose'), incorrect prepositional and structural patterns ('justified with respect to its cost,' 'their is limited amount'), and tense inconsistencies. While these errors rarely impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to characterize the writing at this level. To advance, the writer must exercise greater accuracy with basic verb forms, subject-verb agreement, and articles.

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