Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-19
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)
Some people believe that advertising is crucial for the success of convincing people to buy things, while others believe that we no longer pay attention due to its similarity. Although the latter opinion can work in some cases, I believe that advertising stimulates our minds to buy things that are beneficial for us.
On the one hand, people think that advertising is too common for all products due to their marketing strategies by collaborating with popular celebrities and innocent people tend to buy easily and get fooled. For example, a zero-sugar brand advertised by famous cinema industry person where people believe that it has no added sugar content without investigating food label and consume it with less knowledge.
On the other hand, I believe that advertising through televisions and other social media platforms plays a vital role in persuading us to buy things by their wonderful offers and the ad theme by our favourite personalities. It easily stimulates us to purchase and try to get results quicker. For instance, Head and shoulders dandruff shampoo ad's which costs 1 rupees that after few weeks the dandruff vanishes away from the person.
In conclusion, although individuals do not pay much attention to advertisements, I believe that advertising strongly influences customers to use on them with more excitement mainly because of their respect and love on famous one's.
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 response addresses both views and provides a clear personal opinion. However, the essay is significantly under the 250-word minimum, which limits the depth of the arguments. The ideas are introduced but remain under-developed; for instance, the explanation of why people 'get fooled' by celebrities is superficial. The conclusion repeats the prompt's premise rather than synthesising the arguments effectively. To improve, you must expand your supporting points with more detailed analysis or additional examples to meet the length requirement and demonstrate a more thorough exploration of the topic.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organised into clear paragraphs, and there is a basic logical progression. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand', but they are sometimes used mechanically. The referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the final sentence where 'use on them' is confusing. Paragraphing is present, but the transition between the introduction and the body paragraphs could be smoother. To achieve a higher band, focus on using a wider variety of linking words and ensuring that each sentence flows naturally from the previous one.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks precision and sophistication. There are some awkward collocations, such as 'cinema industry person' instead of 'celebrity' or 'actor', and 'dandruff vanishes away' which is slightly redundant. The range of vocabulary is limited, relying on basic terms like 'things' and 'buy'. To improve, try to incorporate more topic-specific vocabulary related to marketing, consumer psychology, and advertising strategies, and pay closer attention to natural word combinations (collocations).
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Examples include 'advertising is too common for all products due to their marketing strategies' (the pronoun 'their' lacks a clear antecedent) and 'ad's which costs 1 rupees' (incorrect pluralisation and subject-verb agreement). Punctuation is generally functional, but the sentence structure in the conclusion is somewhat convoluted. Increasing the number of error-free complex sentences will help improve your score in this criterion.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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