Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-07

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 is a most common marketing practice being implemented by almost every business in today's world. There is araising global debate whether it is a working method or not, on on hand people believe advertisement is a medium that leads us to buy things where other believe it has been so common that most people do not pay attendtion to these things anymore. In this essay I will be stating my views why advertisement is no longer an exciting move to attract buyers.

Advertisement is simply a process of marketing, a process of giving information to people to attract them to purchase or use the offered services and products. It is a useful and important traditional technique because without letting people know about products and services, businesses cannot get clients. In simple words, a shampoo business owner gives free sample, uses big highway flex boards, uses popular celebrity to advertise so that potential consumers can get idea about that product and start using it. A producer is trying to pass message to costumer in this process, that is advertising.

However, it is not that effective in todays world. People are well aware about fake claims and marketing stunts. Also businesses are using every source to advertise and that is creating a negative vision of a brand. Firstly it is boring to see advertisements everywhere, secondly it creates confusion because there are lots of alternative products availabe in market, seeing advertisement of every product creates a confusion only and people are not maying attention it advertisement these days. Recently I went to big mart where there were five soft drinks advertisement boards. I was thirsty and confused what to buy. I end up purchasing water because all had the same claims about their soft drinks which confused me and I ignored them. In short, we have lots of products and we see tons of advertisement in daily basis and it is just borig and confusing.

In conclusion, both of the argument have valid points and opinion but, people trust recommendation than advertisement in today's world. That's why people are not paying attetion to advertisement because they confuse them but seek recommendations from friends and relatives who use them. Therefore, a quality product which people love once using do not need advertising and stays on top of sales data in today's world.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both views and make your own position clear: you explain that advertising can inform consumers, but argue that its prevalence makes it less persuasive. The shampoo example illustrates how businesses use advertising to reach potential customers, while your supermarket experience supports your view that repeated, similar claims can confuse buyers. However, the first view is mainly explained as a way to inform people, rather than showing clearly how advertising successfully persuades them to buy. The personal example is relevant but would be stronger if you connected it more explicitly to consumers’ wider behaviour. Your conclusion also makes a broad claim that loved products do not need advertising without developing or qualifying it. Develop both sides more evenly and support your opinion with clearer reasoning.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate discussion of advertising’s usefulness and limitations, and a conclusion. Paragraphing helps distinguish the main stages of your argument, and signposts such as “However” and “In conclusion” make the direction easy to follow. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes repetitive: the third paragraph repeats that advertising is boring and confusing without clearly separating these as distinct reasons and explaining each in turn. Some links are also awkward or unclear, particularly the long opening sentence, where the contrast between the two views is difficult to follow. The conclusion introduces recommendations from friends and relatives but does not fully connect this point to the earlier discussion. Use clearer topic sentences and more precise links between claims, examples, and conclusions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “potential consumers,” “marketing stunts,” “alternative products,” and “recommendation.” These choices show an attempt to discuss advertising and consumer behaviour beyond very basic terms. However, the range is limited by repeated use of “advertisement” and “confusion,” and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “a negative vision of a brand,” “paying attention it advertisement,” and “sales data” where you appear to mean sales performance. Spelling errors, including “attendtion,” “availabe,” and “borig,” also reduce accuracy. Aim to use a wider set of precise terms, such as “brand image,” “overexposure,” and “purchase decisions,” and check spelling and collocations carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including explanations with “because” and contrasts introduced by “However.” This allows you to communicate the main argument, but complex sentences are often faulty and errors occur frequently enough to make some passages difficult to read. For example, the opening sentence contains an unclear construction (“There is araising global debate whether…”), and the sentence beginning “Firstly it is boring…” joins several ideas without clear grammatical control. There are also errors in agreement and verb forms, as in “both of the argument have” and “I end up purchasing,” as well as missing or incorrect articles and prepositions. Work on building accurate sentences first, then combine ideas using controlled subordinate clauses and check agreement, tense, and punctuation.

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