Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-15

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In some parts of the world, people buy far too many clothes.

What are the reasons for this?
How can people be persuaded to reduce the number of clothes they buy?

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

Student answer (Band 6.5)

It is widely acknowledged that in some parts of the world, people excessively shop for clothing items. The mindset of individuals and the poor quality of fabric are significant contributing factors for the rise in this trend. Life style bloggers could play a key role in making the masses aware of the benefits brought by sustainability.

There has been a change in attitude of individuals. People associate wardrobe with social status and anyone who is seen repeating an outfit is considered to be inferior. To cater to the increasing demand of clothes, the clothing companies are mass producing new items. As a result they work on quantity rather than quality. Therefore, even those that want to get more wear from their existing wardrobe are unable to. An example to consider is the fashion brand H&M. Initially the brand was well reputed for its quality but with the passage of time the brand's focus shifted to showcasing how it could release a new collection every now and then, in the process although the quality of their products declined, it had no negative impact to the brands image.

Lifestyle bloggers and fashion designers can help in changing the mindsets and overall habits. For instance, they could promote sustainability my making social media posts educating their viewers on the benefits of sustainability by demonstrating how they could style an make different combinations by styling the same items already present in the wardrobe. Moreover, they themselves could intentionally post pictures re wearing their own outfits to normalise the habit.

In conclusion, there are several reasons behind the trend of shopping for too many clothes. In my opinion, this is a negative development and people from the fashion industry can help raising awareness and bring a change in masses.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, covering both the reasons for excessive clothes shopping and practical solutions to reduce it. The introduction outlines the key points nicely, and the body paragraphs offer relevant explanations, such as social status pressures and fast fashion manufacturing trends exemplified by H&M. The second body paragraph successfully introduces viable solutions, including the role of lifestyle bloggers promoting sustainability and re-wearing outfits. While the ideas are generally clear and supported, some minor extensions could be sharper, placing this performance comfortably at Band 6.5 to 7.0. Given the solid coverage of both prompt tasks and logical extension of ideas, a band score of 7.0 is well-deserved.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay displays a clear overall progression and logical organisation. Each paragraph has a distinct focus, moving from causes in the introduction and first body paragraph to solutions in the second body paragraph, and concluding neatly. Cohesive devices are used adequately, such as 'As a result', 'Therefore', and 'Moreover'. However, some minor referencing and cohesion issues appear, such as the slight abruptness in the transition between sentences or minor mechanical usage of linking words. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately throughout the text, allowing the reader to follow the train of thought easily. This warrants a solid Band 6.5, rounded to 7.0 based on positive descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The student demonstrates an adequate to sufficient range of vocabulary for the task. Words and phrases like 'excessively shop', 'social status', 'mass producing', and 'sustainability' show that the writer can attempt less common lexical items. There are, however, some slight lexical inaccuracies or awkward collocations, such as 'Life style' (lifestyle), 'making social media posts', and 're wearing' (rewearing). Despite these minor flaws, the vocabulary is varied enough to allow clear communication and meets the criteria for Band 6.5, which aligns with Band 7.0 when evaluated positively for attempting flexible and precise phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating control over relative clauses and conditional structures. Examples such as 'anyone who is seen repeating an outfit is considered to be inferior' and 'even those that want to get more wear from their existing wardrobe are unable to' show good grammatical variety. There are occasional errors, such as 'Life style' formatting, 'impact to the brands image' (impact on the brand's image), and 'help raising awareness' (help raise awareness). Nevertheless, these errors rarely impede communication, and the majority of sentences are clear and well-constructed, fitting the Band 7 descriptor well.

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