Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-06

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)

Some people argue that in the modern age, cinema and theatre are not much of an importance as people can watch all the entertainment they want online.

I partially agree with the statement because, it has a lot of pros such as theatre requires a lot of money to watch a film whereas, the same film can be easily available online a lot of streaming platforms like Netflix, Prime, Disney stream a variety of genre and user can access this based on his preference at a small charge. People can watch movies anytime and anywhere from their homes comfortably without any disturbance. This completely eliminates vehicle, food and miscellaneous charges incurred at a movie theatre. Other genre of films can also be explored as online platforms have a variety of contents to offer whereas theatre offers only 1 genre at a time.

For Instance I decided to watch a horror thriller movie online at my home this idea was worth it as I saved approximately 450 Rs.

I disagree with the statement because, theatre provides the suitable atmosphere to watch a film, we can express our feelings and emotions through screaming, laughing, cheering. Watching a film in theatre proves economical as it provides a source of income and job for people working there. It also contributes roughly 0.5% to 6 % to the country GDP. Many theatres perform cultural and traditional plays, dramas, music, dance which is helpful for us to develop cultural insights and know about our culture and tradition. Attending these shows encourages them and ensures more plays will be performed in the near future.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both the decline of physical cinemas and their ongoing economic and cultural importance, while also presenting a clear personal opinion. However, the development of ideas is uneven. For instance, the points about online streaming being cheaper and more convenient are reasonably well explained, but the personal example about saving money on a horror thriller is overly brief and simplistic. Furthermore, the economic impact is mentioned broadly without deep extension. To reach a higher level, all ideas would need to be fully elaborated with robust, highly relevant examples and a more cohesive extension of arguments throughout the body paragraphs.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement and attempts to organize ideas into distinct sections representing different viewpoints. However, the progression of ideas is sometimes hindered by mechanical or faulty cohesion. The second paragraph is an extremely long block of text containing multiple distinct ideas—such as cost, convenience, platform variety, and lack of travel expenses—that should be broken into separate sentences or paragraphs for clarity. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun use in phrases like 'encourages them', where the exact antecedent is ambiguous. To improve, the writer needs to utilize paragraphing more effectively and apply cohesive devices with greater precision and variety.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'miscellaneous charges', 'economic', and 'cultural insights'. Less common vocabulary is attempted, but there are notable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and phrasing, such as 'not much of an importance', 'variety of contents' (instead of content), and 'country GDP' (instead of country's GDP). Additionally, there is awkward phrasing like 'Other genre of films can also be explored'. These lexical slips and minor inaccuracies do not impede communication, but they prevent the writing from achieving greater precision. To progress, the student should focus on natural collocations and exact word forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over structure. However, there are persistent errors in grammar and punctuation, particularly comma splices and run-on sentences, as seen in 'I partially agree with the statement because, it has a lot of pros such as theatre requires...' and '...the same film can be easily available online a lot of streaming platforms...'. Other issues include missing prepositions and punctuation inconsistencies. While these errors rarely impede overall communication, they represent a recurring pattern of structural lapses. To achieve a higher score, the student needs to produce a greater proportion of error-free complex sentences and exercise tighter control over punctuation.

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