Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-07-30
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
In the future nobody will buy printed newspapers or books because they will be able to read everything they want online without paying. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Student answer (Band 6.5)
In the upcoming years, people will prefer reading news or books over the internet for free instead of purchasing newspapers or books. This essay will describe both the perspectives in details and explain why I believe that this will be possible to some extent as everything can be found on the internet but not every content is free.
As our world is moving towards a complete digital era, internet provides easy access to all the information available across the world. Most of the traditional ways are now getting replaced with digital means, such as banks providing internet banking, watching a movie on OTT platforms instead of theatres, listening to music over radio is now replaced with music streaming platforms. Due to this digitalisation, even newspapers and books are now available as e-newspapers or e-books, providing easier and faster access to the people.
On the other hand, companies have restricted the access to this digital version of content behind a paywall that is commonly known as a subscription or one-time fees. Organisations have started this business model of subscription as a service model, where the user has to pay either one-time, monthly, quarterly or an annual fees to receive the services provided by the firm. For example, if you want to watch movies on OTT platform then you will have to pay some fees every month to consume the content. Hence, making it legally impossible to gain access to this content without paying the required fees for the subscription.
In conclusion, I agree with people consuming book or newspaper content over internet in current time or even in future but due to capitalisation gaining access to this without any cost seems impossible in my opinion.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 7.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 6.5 |
| Overall | 6.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5
The response addresses the prompt by discussing the shift to digital media and the role of paywalls. However, the position is slightly contradictory; the introduction states you will describe 'both perspectives', but the prompt asks for the extent of your agreement. You argue that while digital consumption will increase, free access is unlikely. This is a relevant position, but it could be more clearly articulated. The development is somewhat limited; while you provide examples like OTT platforms, the discussion on printed books and newspapers specifically could be more deeply explored to fully address the 'extent' of the shift.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0
The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a central theme. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'On the other hand', 'For example', and 'In conclusion', which help the flow of ideas. However, some transitions are slightly mechanical, and the referencing could be more sophisticated. The progression of ideas is generally clear, moving from the trend of digitalization to the economic reality of paywalls, which effectively supports your overall argument.
Lexical Resource — Band 6.5
You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'digitalisation', 'paywall', and 'capitalisation'. There are some minor inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'describe both the perspectives in details' (should be 'in detail') and 'consume the content' (which is slightly unnatural in this context). While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, it lacks the precision and variety of less common lexical items that would push the score into the higher bands.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5
The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'internet provides' (needs an article: 'the internet provides'), 'an annual fees' (should be 'an annual fee'), and 'consuming book or newspaper content over internet' (needs articles). While these errors are frequent, they do not impede communication. To improve, focus on article usage and subject-verb agreement, and try to incorporate a wider variety of complex sentence structures with greater accuracy.
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