Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-11-02

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)

In todays time advertising has become so common that some people find it persuading to buying things by watching through them, where as others no longer pay attentation due to these ads. I think ads have less importance in todays period then they had if we look few years back.

On one hand people who find advertising successful way of marketing the products are either the ones who are involved in such business or share similar interest or they either have good previous experiences by purchasing things which they found through the ads and any or all of these reasons are possible in current time. Purpose of adverising is to promote and show preview of the original product which these people like have before originally buying the product either online or physically.

On the other hand with expansion of internet and through the advent of social media platforms of all kinds which support and promote ads of every kind of business people are now stressed out by watching the ads again specially the ones which are repeated again and again or in some cases same ads are available on different platforms in these type of scenarios people don't even care about looking those and they might even use add blockers when they get frustated, so that their online activities are not disturbed through those ads.

Overall some people still find ads useful today while others find them frustating and useless so they ignore and don't pay event little attention to these which in my view more of a personal satisfaction rather than a choice of dislike.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You discuss both views and give a personal position, so the response addresses the main parts of the prompt. The view that advertising can persuade is supported by possible reasons, including previous positive purchasing experiences, while the opposing view is explained through repeated online ads and the use of ad blockers. However, the first side is not developed as clearly: the claim that people who find ads successful are “either the ones who are involved in such business” is broad and not fully explained. Your opinion that ads have less importance today is stated in the introduction, but the conclusion shifts towards personal satisfaction and dislike without clearly reaffirming that comparison. Develop each view with a specific example and keep your position consistent.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, two paragraphs presenting opposing views, and a conclusion. “On one hand” and “On the other hand” help signal the discussion, and the ideas generally progress from advertising’s persuasive purpose to the effects of repeated exposure. However, some sentences are overloaded with several points, particularly the paragraph about internet advertising, making the relationships between ideas harder to follow. Phrases such as “these type of scenarios” also have unclear reference, and the conclusion does not connect the personal opinion as directly to the opening claim. Break long sentences into clearer units and use more precise links between examples and the point they support.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “promote,” “previous experiences,” “expansion of internet,” and “ad blockers,” which allows you to discuss both the marketing and audience-response aspects. There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “personal satisfaction.” However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, including “adverising,” “attentation,” “frustated,” and “frustating.” Some combinations are unnatural or imprecise, such as “find it persuading to buying things” and “show preview of the original product.” These choices sometimes make the intended meaning less clear. Build accuracy by learning common collocations for advertising and persuasion, and proofread spelling and word forms before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses introduced by “whereas,” “which,” and “so that.” This gives the response some structural variety, and the main ideas are usually understandable. However, several sentences contain grammatical problems or become difficult to control. For example, “find it persuading to buying things” has an incorrect verb pattern, while “people who like have before originally buying” is structurally unclear. There are also issues with articles and number, as in “Purpose of adverising” and “these type of scenarios,” and punctuation is weak in the long sentence about social media ads. Use shorter sentences when combining several ideas, and check verb patterns, articles, and singular/plural agreement.

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