Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-11-03

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 5.0)

When it comes to advertisement, two opinions are generally found. Some people thinks 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.

Those who thinks advertising is extremely successful at persuading us to buy things are thinking in the right direction because the advertisement agencies and platforms knows the psychology of their target audience, they know preferences of their diaspora. therefore they target relevant people very precisely. For example, those advertisement agencies who wants to target cosmatics and beauty related peolpe will show up an ad of their cosmatic product on social media only to those people who are really interested in buying cosmatic products. It works in a way that when a person search for cosmatic product on internet with filters such as "Organic Shampoo" then these preferences are noticed and stored by the search engine company and it shows ads of organic shampoo to that specific indvidual. While in a same room another person might get an ad for a coffee brand because he/she might have searched about coffee brands on their mobile or computer. The same goes for traditional advertisements such as you won't find any KFC billboard in poor villages but in city you would find dozens of them. This is why the advertising agencies are so successful in pursuading us to buy things.

Those people who thinks advertising is so common that we no longer pay attention to it, says it because they see these regular billboards on roads, some repeatitive ads on their phone/computers and regular ads on TV's. To such ads people usually doesn't pay attention because they are already aware of it, it means they are already persuaded by these ads and while going for grocery they might buy those things too without even noticing that they are persuaded. In this way the factor that we don't pay attention to it is unlikely to happen because we paid attention to the ad already.

I think that advertising is extremely successful at persuading us to buy things.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You discuss both views and state your own position clearly at the end: you support the idea that advertising persuades people. The examples about targeted online adverts and billboards make the first view relevant and concrete. However, the second view is not explored as a genuinely opposing argument. You claim that people who ignore familiar adverts have already been persuaded, which largely dismisses rather than explains why advertising’s ubiquity may make it ineffective. The conclusion also repeats your opinion without adding a reasoned summary. To develop the response more fully, explain how repeated exposure can cause people to tune out or distrust adverts, then weigh that against your point about targeted marketing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph for each view, and a final statement of your opinion. Examples generally follow the claims they support, so the reader can understand the main line of argument. However, progression is weakened by repeated wording, especially the repeated opening phrases about what each group thinks and the repeated claim that advertising persuades people. Some links are mechanical or unclear: “In this way” introduces a conclusion that does not follow clearly from the preceding explanation, and “therefore” is not punctuated as a sentence connector. Organise each body paragraph around one clear claim, explain it, and then connect the example explicitly to that claim.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “target audience,” “preferences,” “billboard,” and “persuading,” and you attempt more specific language such as “target relevant people very precisely.” This gives you enough range to communicate the main ideas. However, several spelling errors and awkward or inaccurate word choices are noticeable, including “cosmatics,” “peolpe,” “repeatitive,” and “diaspora” where you appear to mean a group of consumers. Phrases such as “cosmatic products” and “those people” are also repeated, limiting precision and variety. Check spelling carefully and choose collocations that fit the context; varying terms such as “consumers,” “advertisements,” and “targeted marketing” would make the discussion clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including explanations with “because” and a conditional example beginning “when a person search.” These attempts show some range, but complex sentences are often difficult to control, and agreement errors occur frequently. For example, “Some people thinks,” “the advertisement agencies … knows,” and “people usually doesn’t pay attention” have mismatched subjects and verbs. There are also problems with articles and sentence boundaries, as in “in a same room” and the long sentence beginning “Those who thinks … because.” Break long sentences into clearer units, check singular and plural subjects before choosing verbs, and review article use. More accurate control of these patterns would make your reasoning easier to follow.

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