Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-22

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 5.0)

In some parts of the world, people buy far too many clothes. In my opinion, there are multiple factors that affect consumer behaviour. It is true that in some parts of the world, people buy far too many clothes. These people are likely to be the residents of countries that have stronger economies and low inflation.

For example America and the United Kingdom. Such countries have strong economies and controlled inflation in comparison to the third world countries. Therefore, people buy more clothes in these countries. Additionally, fashion keeps evolving therefore, to stay up to date people buy latest clothes.

Moreover, clothes are the basic requirement of people around the world. Therefore, as the population is increasing, the demand of clothes is also increasing. Therefore, highly populated countries have higher demand of clothes.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response is severely under-length, containing only 133 words against the required minimum of 250 words. As per the marking criteria, this significantly impacts Task Achievement, as the ideas cannot be fully developed. Furthermore, while the first part of the prompt regarding the reasons why people buy too many clothes is partially addressed by discussing economic factors and fashion trends, the second part of the prompt—how people can be persuaded to reduce the number of clothes they buy—is completely ignored. Due to the major omission of the second task requirement and the inadequate length, the response falls into the lower bands.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response shows some logical organisation, attempting to group ideas into short paragraphs. However, cohesive devices are heavily overused and mechanical, with multiple consecutive sentences starting with 'Therefore' or 'Additionally' (e.g., 'Therefore, people buy more clothes...', 'Therefore, as the population is increasing...'). Paragraphing is also disrupted by the extremely short paragraph structures, which do not allow for a clear, cohesive overall progression of a full essay. Referencing is basic, and the lack of a concluding paragraph further detracts from the overall structural cohesion of the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for basic communication but is quite repetitive and limited in range. Phrases such as 'strong economies', 'third world countries', and 'basic requirement' are simple and lack flexibility. There are also noticeable lexical choices that could be improved, such as 'latest clothes' instead of 'current fashion trends' or 'latest styles'. While spelling is generally accurate, the restricted vocabulary range and repetitive word choices prevent the response from achieving a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and some basic complex sentence forms, such as 'It is true that in some parts of the world, people buy far too many clothes.' However, the range of grammatical structures is quite limited overall. There are several repetitive sentence patterns and some minor errors, such as missing articles ('the demand of clothes' instead of 'the demand for clothes'). Despite these errors, communication is not severely impeded, and simple sentences are generally constructed with acceptable accuracy.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.