Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-13

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 6.0)

As far as this topic is concerned, some people believe that advertising is very successful in persuading consumers to buy products, while others think that people have become so used to advertisements that they no longer notice them. In my opinion, advertising still has a strong influence on people's buying decisions.

On the one hand, advertising can be very effective because it informs people about new products and services. Companies use attractive images, famous personalities and special offers to encourage customers to buy their products. For example, advertisements for mobile phones often show their latest features and convince people that they need a newer model. Therefore, advertising can strongly influence consumer behaviour.

On the other hand, people are exposed to advertisements almost everywhere, including television, social media, websites and public places. As a result, many people have become accustomed to advertisements and simply ignore them. Moreover, some consumers do not trust advertisements because they believe that companies exaggerate the benefits of their products. Therefore, advertising is not always successful.

In conclusion, although people are exposed to a large number of advertisements and may ignore some of them, I believe that advertising remains an effective way of influencing consumers. Attractive and well-designed advertisements can still persuade people to purchase products and services.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource6.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy6.5
Overall6.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views on advertising and providing a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. The ideas are relevant and supported with explanations and examples, such as mobile phone advertisements. However, there is a penalty because the response contains only 211 words, which fails to meet the minimum requirement of 250 words. This under-length impacts the full development of ideas, preventing the essay from achieving a higher band score. The position is clear throughout, but further extension of the arguments is needed to satisfy the word count and task requirements fully.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organised with a clear overall progression. It follows a traditional structure with an introduction, two body paragraphs representing opposing views, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately, and each paragraph has a clear central topic. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion' are used effectively to guide the reader through the arguments. Referencing is generally clear, with phrases like 'such advertisements' linking back smoothly. While the cohesion is somewhat mechanical in places, it successfully maintains a logical flow throughout the short text.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, including phrases like 'persuading consumers', 'consumer behaviour', and 'exaggerate the benefits'. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, and word choice is generally appropriate and natural. Spelling and word formation are accurate throughout the text. Although the vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the main points clearly, it lacks the more sophisticated, precise, and wide-ranging lexical items characteristic of higher band scores, remaining somewhat standard and predictable.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The writing demonstrates a fair mix of simple and complex sentence forms. The student successfully incorporates subordinate clauses, such as 'while others think that people have become so used to advertisements...' and 'although people are exposed to a large number of advertisements...'. Grammar and punctuation are handled with a good level of control; the majority of sentences are grammatically accurate, and minor errors are absent. While the range of structures is somewhat limited and relies heavily on standard complex patterns rather than a wider variety of advanced syntactic features, the control demonstrated is solid and errors do not impede communication.

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