Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-11

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)

There has been an ongoing argument that marketing has a huge impact on people to buy products. While there are some who believe that it has become so frequent that people have lost interest. I do believe that advertising has done pretty well in encouraging people to shop because advertising is a major part in selling products that people require. However, there are more or less the same kind of products that are being promoted which can lead people to lose concern.

Most of the people love shopping whether is online or instore and are always looking for something better than what they already have. Marketing is the best solution for companies to sell those products in strategic ways to gain people’s focus and convince them to buy whatever they are looking for. For example, a newly formed fast-food restaurant can easily promote its product in schools and collages by giving them a special discount. In this way the brand will not only gain the audience’s attention but will also convince them to buy an item that is money saving.

On the other hand, promotions have become common because there is so much saturation in the market and without any proper marketing plan it will cause people to lose interest. For instance, when I used to work in an advertising agency few years back, I worked with a skincare start up brand that consistently refused to market their product without strategies and as a result people lost interest because they had other options to explore.

To conclude, advertisement have been highly victorious in pushing people to buy products because brands and companies are aware what people are looking for despite the fact that sometime promotion can become common.

AI examiner evaluation

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 first body paragraph provides a relevant example regarding fast-food marketing, but the second body paragraph is less effective; the example about a skincare brand is slightly confusing and does not clearly illustrate why people lose interest in advertising. While the position is consistent, the arguments could be more thoroughly extended to reach a higher band. The conclusion effectively summarizes the main points, but the overall depth of analysis remains somewhat superficial, typical of a Band 6.0 performance.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear central topic. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'While', 'However', 'For example', and 'On the other hand', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical or repetitive. The referencing is generally clear, although the flow between the second body paragraph and the conclusion could be smoother. The paragraphing is appropriate, and the progression of ideas is logical, though not always sophisticated. Overall, the essay maintains a coherent structure throughout.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to convey their meaning clearly. There are attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'saturation', 'strategic', and 'promoted'. However, there are instances of imprecise word choice, such as 'lost concern' instead of 'lost interest' or 'became indifferent', and 'highly victorious' which is not a natural collocation in this context. Some phrasing is slightly informal, such as 'done pretty well'. To improve, the student should focus on more precise collocations and a wider range of academic vocabulary to express nuanced ideas.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'Most of the people love shopping whether is online or instore' (missing 'it'), 'collages' (spelling error for 'colleges'), and 'advertisement have been' (subject-verb agreement). While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. The punctuation is generally functional, but the control over complex structures is inconsistent. Increasing the frequency of error-free sentences and refining subject-verb agreement will help improve the score in this criterion.

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

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