Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-28
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)
It is frequently proposed by many individuals that customers are attracted to buy things because of successful advertising. However, the other half majority believe that advertisements are very ubiquitous and does not gain attention. From my perspective, I do agree that both views has pros and cons.
On the one hand, ads plays a vital role in increasing the size of its customers as they assist the general populace to get to know about their product. For instance, there are so many ways of marketing a new product in a market. The organizations display promotional advertising not only through social media but also by billboards or sponsors as well. They try to make the advertisements so attractive that the consumers eventually get enthusiastic about the product or service which lead them to buy it especially if they are in need of it or looking for it. So they are considered remarkably successful as it helps business in rising its customer range.
On the other hand, advertisements are sometimes also ignored by many individuals as they are considered annoying and irritating especially when watching a Youtube video and they suddenly pop up. They are also very repetitive, so inhabitants do not pay attention to them and just skip it. Moreover, ads displayed on billboards sometimes are not noticed by people travelling on roads as they are busy with traffic and road conditions especially in my country, Pakistan, which makes advertising uncommon.
In conclusion, I would like to propose that advertising help people know about what new product has been launched which people are looking for, so it does play a part in persuading buyers to buy the product from advertising.
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 all parts of the task by discussing both views—that advertising is persuasive and that it is too common to be noticed—and presents an opinion. However, the position in the introduction ("both views has pros and cons") is slightly contradictory to the conclusion, which leans towards advertisements helping people know about new products. Furthermore, the development of ideas tends to be repetitive. For instance, the discussion on how ads help consumers "get to know about their product" is restated similarly in subsequent sentences without significant extension. While the main points are relevant, the ideas would benefit from deeper elaboration and a more clearly maintained personal position throughout the essay. This performance aligns best with Band 6 descriptors.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay has a clear overall arrangement with logical paragraphing, featuring an introduction, two body paragraphs representing opposing views, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used to signal relationships between ideas, such as "On the one hand", "On the other hand", and "In conclusion". However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, the pronoun "they" in the second paragraph ("get to know about their product") creates ambiguity regarding whether it refers to customers or organizations. Additionally, the progression within the second body paragraph stumbles slightly due to repetitive phrasing, and the conclusion merely restates the prompt rather than synthesizing the main arguments effectively. These factors place the response squarely in the Band 6 category.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating topic-related terms such as "promotional advertising", "social media", "billboards", and "ubiquitous". There are, however, noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies, as well as a few stylistic slips. For example, the phrase "other half majority" is awkward and unidiomatic, and "raising its customer range" is a poor collocation compared to "expanding its customer base". Furthermore, repetition of words like "products", "advertising", and "people" limits lexical flexibility. While vocabulary errors do not impede communication, the lack of precision and control over less common items prevents the essay from reaching a Band 7.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing dependent clauses and conditional structures such as "especially when watching a Youtube video and they suddenly pop up" and "especially if they are in need of it". Nevertheless, there are several noticeable grammatical errors and a lack of subject-verb agreement control. For instance, the student writes "both views has pros and cons" (should be 'have') and "ads plays a vital role" (should be 'play'). Additionally, phrases like "does not gain attention" shift subject number incorrectly from "advertisements". Punctuation is generally acceptable, but frequent minor structural errors keep the score at a Band 5.5, reflecting a limitation in grammatical accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.