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)

Many critics argue that the advertisements are flourishing in attracting customers to buy their products. I am in full agreement that the companies are putting luscious visuals as per the niche genre where the customers are hooked to purchase such items and they play with the human psychology and try to manipulate the individuals emotions.

Such companies make appealing advertisements for dedicated customers. I am inclined to think that the firms attract the consumers by placing unnecessary alluring attractions in the background rather than that of the product. For instance, an institution is selling chocolates they would put the attractive girl holding the bar and presenting it in a sexual way and telling positive about the items which makes the consumer feel more connected toward the items and confident to pay for the product.

Furthermore, such organizations hire psychologists to study about the human emotions and attempt to manipulate them. As far as I can think, such firms hire such intellects about human psychology and research about the emotions which can be easily manipulated and make the consumers feel more guilt of missing out on such stock. For instance, apple are sold in a mid sized markets and is considered to be associated with elite class. As the consequence, a person feels to lose their status and makes an unnecessarily acquiring apple products to maintain their respect in the society.

Taking everything into account, similar firms uses the human emotions like sexual desires as well as guilt to manipulate an individual to acquire such goods. Ultimately, customers are more eager to be associated with following goods.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both views and providing a clear opinion. However, the task is only partially fulfilled because you focus almost exclusively on the first view (advertising as persuasive). You mention the second view (advertising as ignored) only implicitly or not at all, failing to discuss it as a distinct perspective. The ideas are somewhat repetitive, focusing heavily on psychological manipulation and sexual imagery. To reach a higher band, you must provide a balanced discussion that explores why some people believe advertising has become ineffective due to its ubiquity, as requested by the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the progression of ideas is sometimes mechanical. While you use cohesive devices like 'Furthermore' and 'Taking everything into account', the logical flow between sentences is occasionally strained. For example, the transition between the discussion of psychologists and the example of Apple products feels abrupt. Additionally, some referencing is unclear, such as the phrase 'following goods' in the conclusion, which does not clearly link back to the preceding arguments. Improving the variety and precision of linking words would enhance the overall flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting to use more sophisticated terms like 'manipulate', 'psychology', and 'alluring'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors that hinder precision. For example, 'luscious visuals' is an inappropriate collocation in this context, and 'intellects' is used incorrectly to refer to professionals. Phrases like 'unnecessarily acquiring' and 'associated with following goods' are also unnatural. While the meaning is generally clear, the lack of precision in word choice limits the score to the 6.0 band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Issues include subject-verb agreement ('apple are sold'), incorrect article usage ('a mid sized markets'), and awkward phrasing ('telling positive about the items'). Punctuation is generally functional, but some sentences are overly long and lack clarity, such as the final sentence of the second paragraph. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for subject-verb agreement would be beneficial.

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

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