Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-18

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 4.5)

Nowadays, sustainable living has become increasingly important because of growing environmental problems. In many societies, thereb is a growing concern on sustainable living and decreasing environmental impact. There are many challenges and some actions which can taken by individuals of adopting a sustainable lifestyle. This essay will discuss the main challenges and some practical actions that individual can take in the following paragraphs.

To begin with, there are various challenges of adopting a sustainable lifestyle. The main challenge of adopting a green lifestyle is the lack of effective products in reasonable prices. Therefore, a large number of individuals cannot afford an environmentally friendly lifestyle despite they are aware of the importance of such measures. For instance, electric cars taht are sold on high price tags that's why many people cannot afford it. Moreover, people are often used to convenient lifestyle. With the convenient lifestyle, people give more preference to cars for travelling one location to another rather than using public transport. They choose cars because it is more convenient and also save the time of people.

On the other hand, there are several practical ways which should be taken by individuals to contribute to sustainability. Firstly, people should reduce the use of plastic bags, bottles and containers. They should use reusable bags to carry, such as paper bags and juite bags which are environment friendly and also they should reuse the plastic bottles and containers in their everyday life. Secondly, people shouls off the all switches of lights and electrical appliances when they do not need of those things. So, it can help to save the energy. In addition to this, people should follow the principle rules like reuse, reduce and recycle. For example, people can donate their clothes and home furniture when they want to throw away these items. So, due to these steps, this problem can be solved on some extent.

To conclude, although adopting a sustainable lifestyle can be challenging because of high costs, convenience and lack of awareness, there are some steps like simple changes in lifestyle and daily habits, reducing waste, saving energy and using public transport can help individuals to protect the environment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0

The candidate has completely misunderstood the prompt and written an essay about sustainable living and environmental protection instead of the required topic: buying products or treatments to look younger. Because the response is entirely off-topic regarding the core subject matter of the prompt, it cannot receive a passing grade for Task Achievement. While the student does discuss challenges and practical actions within their chosen theme, the absolute failure to address the actual prompt's subject ('treatments that help them to look younger') severely impacts the score. According to IELTS guidelines, a response that fails to address the central task prompt must be penalised heavily under Task Achievement. Therefore, the band score reflects this fundamental misinterpretation of the task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

Despite the off-topic content, the essay demonstrates a recognisable structural framework. The writer uses an introduction, clear body paragraphs signaled by signposting phrases such as 'To begin with' and 'On the other hand', and a conclusion. Paragraphing is generally logical, grouping ideas about challenges separately from practical solutions. However, cohesion is frequently mechanical or faulty, with awkward transitions like 'So, it can help to save the energy' and 'So, due to these steps, this problem can be solved on some extent.' Referencing is also occasionally unclear. Because the structural organization shows an awareness of essay conventions despite the content failure, it aligns best with the Band 5 descriptor.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used throughout the text is generally adequate for basic communication, featuring topic-related terms such as 'sustainable lifestyle', 'environmentally friendly', 'electric cars', and 'public transport'. However, there are numerous lexical inaccuracies, word-choice errors, and spelling mistakes. For instance, the student writes 'thereb is' (there is), 'taht are sold on high price tags' (sold at high prices), and 'juite bags' (jute bags). The range of vocabulary is somewhat limited and repetitive, with frequent reliance on basic descriptors. The candidate attempts some less common vocabulary, but these attempts are often marred by imprecise collocations and awkward phrasing, placing this performance securely in the Band 5 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, though attempts at complexity frequently result in grammatical errors. Examples of structural and grammatical inaccuracies include 'actions which can taken' (which can be taken), 'despite they are aware' (despite being aware / even though they are aware), 'save the time of people', and 'people shouls off the all switches' (should turn off all the switches). Punctuation and article usage are also inconsistent. While simple sentences are generally understandable, frequent grammatical errors cause some difficulty for the reader and demonstrate weak control over complex sentence patterns, which corresponds to a Band 5 level of grammatical accuracy and range.

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