Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-10-09

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 6.5)

There is widespread debate whether people are likely to purchase things after watching advertisements or these ads have become so much frequent that people don't focus on them and usually skip them. This essay will discuss both views before explaining why I believe advertisements mostly annoy people and they try to find ways to avoid them.

On the one hand, marketing teams run advertisements after careful considerations in areas where they have the audience who can buy their products. Furthermore, the ads are designed in a way that they explain the audience their needs and market their products as the solution. People mostly buy products that are recommended by actors and influencers. Marketing teams understand this human psychology and hire actors for their ads because they know people will follow them. For example, detergents ads show before and after results and convince people that it will remove all the stains and people buy it after watching the ad.

On the other hand, people sometimes start doing any other task during the ad break on television. A lot of people don't like watching ads and they intentionally skip them on social media. In addition, some people also pay to block these ads. For instance, Youtube has a paid subscription and people purchase it to watch videos without ads.

To conclude, advertisements have a role in persuading people to purchase products. However, I believe only a small percentage of people are convinced to buy items just by watching ads. Most of the people are not influence by ads and skip them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address both views and make your own position clear: advertising can persuade, but you believe most people avoid or ignore it. The examples about influencer endorsements, detergent demonstrations and paid ad-free YouTube support the discussion and keep it relevant. This meets the task well, though the two sides are not developed equally: the persuasive effect is explained through marketing strategies, while the opposing view relies mainly on skipping ads or paying to block them. The conclusion also says only a small percentage are persuaded, but this claim is not fully established by the examples. To strengthen the response, explain more precisely when advertising changes purchasing decisions and acknowledge that its effects may vary by product or audience.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response has a clear overall progression: an introduction presents the debate and your view, two body paragraphs discuss the opposing positions, and the conclusion restates your judgement. Paragraphing is appropriate, and signposts such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “To conclude” make the structure easy to follow. Within paragraphs, examples generally follow the point they illustrate. Some linking is a little mechanical, however, and repeated use of “people” and “ads” makes parts of the discussion less smooth. The opening sentence is also long and crowded, combining the two views and the contrast between them. For more flexible cohesion, vary references to the groups and connect each example more explicitly to the claim it supports.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of topic vocabulary, including “marketing teams,” “audience,” “influencers,” “subscription,” and “persuading,” so the main ideas are communicated clearly. There are also attempts at more specific phrasing, such as “human psychology” and “before and after results.” However, some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward: “so much frequent,” “careful considerations,” and “explain the audience their needs” do not sound natural. “Detergents ads” and repeated reliance on “people” and “ads” also limit precision and variety. These issues do not prevent understanding, but more accurate collocations and a wider set of terms for consumers, advertising and purchasing behaviour would make the argument more fluent and precise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex forms, including a relative clause in “products that are recommended by actors and influencers” and a reason clause in “because they know people will follow them.” Most sentences remain understandable, and the errors rarely obscure your meaning. Some grammatical problems persist, particularly with agreement and verb forms: “Most of the people are not influence” should use a past participle, and “detergents ads … convince people that it will remove” shifts between plural and singular reference. The opening sentence also has a cumbersome structure, and “ads are designed in a way that they explain” needs a clearer grammatical pattern. Review agreement, participles and clause construction, while continuing to use varied sentence forms.

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