Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-04
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
Some people say that advertising is extremely successful at persuading us to buy things. Other people think that advertising is so common that we no longer pay attention to it. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
Advertising nowadays is significantly getting common as it is one of many ways to attract customers to their products. However, there are concerns about it. Most people agree that it can easily persuade us into buying things, while others believe its too common that advertisement recieve little to no attention from individuals as no one cares anymore. This essay will discuss both views and express my opinion whether i agree to which one.
On the one hand, advertisement is becoming reletively vital to consumers' spending. Ads give people new information of a product that they never know existed, which leading into buying them. When people realize a product can help them save a huge amount oftime, effort, or money, the advertisement somehows convinces them to purchase it. For example, ads for a digital products such as technological appliances often persuade their funtionalities to individuals, making them not resist to buy. Another method is flash sales. Limited time discounts, or good offers can make people rush to buy it right away to avoid missing out these great deals.
On the other hand, there are many reasons why this does not effect individuals. One major problem is the ignorance of most people. As advertisements keeps pop up, it annoys everyone to do their work. This is also why ad-block websites are made for a purpose. This allows workers to mind their business while not being interupted by anything. In addition, most people are used to skipping ads. When they are watching something and an advertisement randomly shows up, annoying the people watching. For example, when they are watching youtube and an ad appears out of nowhere, the people will just focus on the 5 second skip timer countdown, not caring the actual product.
In conclusion, advertising is still effective at persuading people through targeted marketing and limited discounts. However, because ads are everywhere, many people have stopped paying attention to them. From my perspective, the huge amount of daily ads has made everyonr ignore most commercial.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The essay addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both views and providing a clear personal opinion. The ideas are relevant, such as the mention of targeted marketing and ad-blockers. However, the development is somewhat uneven. The explanation of why ads are effective is clear, but the counter-argument regarding why they are ignored could be more deeply explored with more sophisticated reasoning. The position is consistent throughout, though the conclusion could have been more effectively linked to the main body arguments to provide a more comprehensive summary.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'On the one hand', 'In addition', and 'In conclusion', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions are slightly mechanical or repetitive, and there are minor issues with referencing (e.g., 'this does not effect individuals' where 'effect' is used incorrectly as a verb). Paragraphing is appropriate, and the progression of ideas is generally easy to follow, though the flow between sentences could be smoother in the second body paragraph.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express their ideas clearly. There are attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'targeted marketing' and 'funtionalities' (though this is a spelling error). Some word choices are imprecise, such as 'significantly getting common' or 'persuade their funtionalities'. The range is sufficient to communicate, but lacks the precision and flexibility required for a higher band. Spelling errors like 'recieve', 'reletively', 'interupted', and 'everyonr' occur, which slightly detract from the overall quality.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('advertisements keeps pop up', 'ads... annoying the people') and incorrect word forms ('does not effect' instead of 'affect'). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are some awkward phrasings that hinder the flow. The control of complex structures is inconsistent, and the errors, while not impeding communication, are frequent enough to prevent a higher score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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