Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-21
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 play important role in influencing the product to the people and reaching numerous customers. The companies tend to advertise their launched product to gain customer attention and secure profits by convincing to buy. Some people think advertising is tactic used by organizations to trap customers and also everyone should trust their product blindly. But the reality is that, advertising is beneficial for both customers and product launchers.
One significant factor of advertising is to aware people about the product and how it is useful for them. It is believed that advertising create curiosity within the people's mind to buy the item even if its unnecessary. Nevertheless, buying things is not important than investigating if the item whether it is genuinely solving real problem or not. For instance, think that Asian countries are unaware of washing machine which is launched in USA, and people are still using same way for washing clothes as before. This is unfair to them, advertising not only help global reach of the product but also resolve big problems. in the society.
On the other hand, people ignore advertising due to traps and tactics companies use to perceive their mind to buy. Even some people find advertising as annoying and wasting time. The reason is when people use any social media app, they find influencers who always promote products even if that's not worth buying. And the growing number of influencers are creating large chunk of promotional videos which is irrelevant to people.
In my opinion, advertising should be regulated and companies are responsible to their product's false promotions. Policymakers should impose necessary protocols for limited advertisement of the product and restrict the false promises companies make to people. Also it is everyone's responsibility to research the item before buying rather than following the promotional videos and increasing its credibility.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| 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 development of ideas is somewhat uneven. The argument regarding the benefits of advertising is supported by an example about washing machines, but the logic is slightly strained. The second view, that advertising is ignored, is addressed through the lens of social media influencers, which is relevant but could be more deeply explored. The position is consistent throughout, but the explanation of why advertising is 'beneficial' remains a bit superficial. To reach a higher band, ensure that each point is fully extended with more nuanced reasoning rather than relying on general statements.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is logically organized into paragraphs, each with a clear central topic. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Nevertheless', 'On the other hand', and 'In my opinion', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions feel mechanical or slightly awkward, such as the opening sentence of the second paragraph ('One significant factor of advertising is to aware people...'). Referencing is generally clear, though some sentence structures are slightly disjointed, which occasionally affects the flow of ideas. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different perspectives and the writer's own stance.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express their ideas clearly. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'protocols', 'credibility', and 'persuade', but there are also instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'influencing the product to the people' and 'perceive their mind'. Additionally, there are minor grammatical-lexical slips like 'to aware people' instead of 'to make people aware'. The range is sufficient to convey meaning, but more precise and natural collocations would be required for a higher band score.
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, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('Advertising play important role'), article usage ('the washing machine', 'in the society'), and word forms ('buying things is not important than investigating'). Some sentences are slightly clunky, such as 'the growing number of influencers are creating large chunk of promotional videos which is irrelevant to people'. These errors do not impede communication, but they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score in this criterion.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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