Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-06

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 5.5)

Nowadays, the income as well as the wealth of people is increasing so fast that many people can afford many products, and they can even look after themselves properly, including how they look and what they wear. Every book has two sides: good and bad. In my opinion, I would say there is a 70:30 ratio, in which 70 is good while the rest is bad.

Starting with the good things first, as people have more power in terms of money, they can provide better lifestyles for their families and even for themselves; for instance, in earlier decades, buying a mobile phone was too difficult compared to now because, in earlier times, people used to do hard work, but they were not getting paid well, whereas now some people might have more than one mobile phone. Moreover, people might often use health care products to look younger, which is good, and it takes us back to our past how we used to look earlier in high school, so paying for the technology that allows you to look fit is really good, in my opine.

However, purchasing more products can increase inflation very quickly, while there are still people who are suffering for their everyday food, and inflation will affect them harshly; for example, I know one of my friends whose situation is not too good; sometimes he needs to borrow money from me to buy necessary things such as groceries for paying rent, etc. Furthermore, inflation right now is higher than usual.

To conclude, I would be on the side where people can afford any products and even take care of their ownselves.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing whether products and treatments to look younger are a good or bad thing, but the treatment of the topic remains somewhat limited and superficial. While the writer attempts to present a position by stating a '70:30 ratio' in the introduction, the ideas are under-developed, particularly regarding the core prompt about anti-ageing products and treatments. For instance, the discussion wanders into general wealth, buying mobile phones, and general inflation rather than maintaining a tight focus on the specific impacts of looking younger. Some ideas are outlined simply without sufficient extension or relevant examples directly tied to the prompt, which prevents the response from reaching a higher level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the essay into an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate main ideas, such as starting the positive arguments with 'Starting with the good things first' and shifting to drawbacks with 'However'. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or somewhat faulty. For example, referencing can be unclear, and transitional phrases like 'Every book has two sides' are overly colloquial or awkward. While there is a logical progression of thought from advantages to disadvantages, the connections between sentences occasionally feel abrupt, and the conclusion simply restates the position without effectively summarising the main supporting points.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, providing a minimally sufficient range to communicate basic ideas about income, products, and inflation. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'inflation', 'healthcare products', and 'financial power', but these attempts are accompanied by noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and phrasing, such as 'in my opine' instead of 'in my opinion' or 'ownselves' instead of 'themselves'. While these lexical errors and some awkward word choices do not completely impede communication, they reflect a limited and repetitive lexical range that restricts the overall score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writing displays a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, though attempts at complexity often result in run-on sentences and structural control issues, such as the overly long opening sentence spanning multiple clauses. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including preposition usage, article omission, and awkward word formation, such as 'the income as well as the wealth of people is increasing so fast that many people can afford many products'. Punctuation is also basic, with comma splices present. Although the meaning can generally be discerned, these persistent errors cause some difficulty for the reader and prevent the grammar from meeting the standards of a higher band.

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

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