Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-14

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Nowadays it's possible for people to buy many products or pay for treatments that help them to look younger.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

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

Student answer (Band 5.0)

These days, individuals spend money on buying the products or pay for treatments to look younger. Although, I believe it's a good thing. I strongly believe that it is not good to use on regular basis as has many disadvantages which I will mention in next paragraph.

Nowadays, people prefer to look younger instead of looking natural because of that people spend lots of money on this. Although by spending money this kind of things, they can save it as an emergency funds. Furthermore, people start getting influence by watching this trends on social media platforms, which hype them to try it. It can reduce self-confidence.

Moreover, people start comparing themselves with those who apply or have underwent for the surgery to look young. For instance, sometimes if one is applying some products other will be provoked by them and will start using it without any suggestions or recommendations. These, in future may leads to skin problems or infection. Because it is not necessary if it is suitable for one then other might skin reactions. It's not necessary that everyone sells best quality, some also sells poor quality products which is harmful for the skin.

However, it is useful for the film stars as they have to maintain their charm, it is not advisable by skin specialist to use it for daily purposes.

Based on the reasons outlined above, I maintain that the applying cosmetic products on skin or unnecessary skin treatments leads to financial burden, reduces self-confidence. Additionally, it increases the skin problem by using low-quality products.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing whether anti-ageing products and treatments are a good or bad thing, presenting a somewhat mixed stance initially before leaning towards them being a bad thing due to financial burdens, risks of infection, and lowered self-confidence. However, the development of ideas is limited and at times contradictory or confusing. For instance, the opening paragraph states 'Although, I believe it's a good thing. I strongly believe that it is not good to use on regular basis', which creates a contradictory position. Furthermore, the final paragraph mentions that they are 'useful for the film stars', which is not fully integrated into a clear overarching argument. The ideas are repetitive, and some arguments, such as saving money as an emergency fund, are awkwardly expressed. Therefore, the response aligns best with Band 5 as it addresses the task partially with some under-developed and unclear points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is divided into paragraphs, which helps give it an overall structure, but the logical progression within and between paragraphs is faulty. The transition between sentences often feels abrupt and confusing, such as jumping from emergency funds to social media influences in the second paragraph. Cohesive devices are used awkwardly or inaccurately, such as the misuse of 'Although by spending money this kind of things' and 'Furthermore, people start getting influence by watching this trends'. Referencing is sometimes unclear, with pronouns like 'it' or 'this' lacking clear antecedents. Paragraphing is attempted, but the grouping of ideas lacks cohesion. These issues place the response firmly in Band 5, where there is some organisation but no clear overall progression, and cohesive devices are inadequate or inaccurate.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student uses a limited and repetitive range of vocabulary that is only minimally adequate for the task. Words and phrases such as 'look younger', 'products', 'treatments', and 'skin problems' are repeated frequently throughout the text. There are notable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'paying for treatments to look younger' (acceptable, but phrasing like 'getting influence' instead of 'influenced', 'have underwent for the surgery' instead of 'undergone surgery', and 'might skin reactions' instead of 'might have skin reactions' detract from the quality). Spelling is generally acceptable, but the lexical inaccuracies and lack of flexibility restrict the score to Band 5, as the vocabulary is basic and errors cause some difficulty for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response demonstrates a limited range of sentence structures, with frequent reliance on basic patterns alongside clumsy attempts at complex sentences that turn out faulty. Examples of grammatical errors include 'Although, I believe it's a good thing', 'it is not good to use on regular basis as has many disadvantages', 'people start getting influence by watching this trends', and 'if one is applying some products other will be provoked'. Punctuation errors also occur, such as sentence fragments and comma splices. Because attempts at complex structures are frequently faulty and cause difficulty for the reader, the grammar performance corresponds to Band 5.

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

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