Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-23
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
Some people like to try new things, for example, places to visit and types of food. Other people prefer to keep doing things they are familiar with.
Discuss both these attitudes and give your own opinion.
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Student answer (Band 6.5)
In recent years, people have different attitudes towards novelty. While some individuals are enthusiastic about exploring unfamiliar palces, trying exotic foods and experiencing different lifestyles, others feel more comfortable following familiar routines. This essay will elucidate both views, and I believe that trying new things is generally more benefical.
To commence with, people who prefer familiar experiences often value comfort, security and predictability. To expand, Repeating acitivites they already enjoy allows them to avoid disappointment and unnecessary stress. For example, someone who always eats at the same restaurant can be confident that the food will suit their taste, whereas experimenting with an unfamiliar cuisine may result in a unpleasant experience. Therefore, repeating familiar activities can create more enjoyable and relaxing moments.
On the other hand, trying new things can significantly enrich poeple's lives. To exemplify, unfamiliar destinations exposes travellers to diffrent cultures, traditions and ways of life, which can make them more open-minded and tolerant. Likewise, tasting different types of food can introduces people to new flavours and culinary traditions that they might otherwise never discover. For instance, a person who travels alone to a foreign country may feel anxious, but successfully dealing with unfamiliar situations can make them more confident.
In my opinion, although there is nothing worng with enjoying familiar acitivities, people should make a conscious effort to embrace new experience. This is not onlyprevents life from becoming monotonous but also creates opportunities to learn, develop and form memorable experiences.
In conclusion, familiar activities offer comfort and predictability, wheras new things provides opportunities for learning and personal development. I strongly believe that people should be willing to try new things , as the benfits of broadening one's experiences generally outweight the risks of tenporary discomfort.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 7.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 7.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 6.0 |
| Overall | 6.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0
The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both attitudes towards novelty and providing a clear personal opinion. The ideas are relevant and well-supported with examples, such as the comparison between dining at a familiar restaurant and the benefits of travel. The position is consistent throughout the essay. To reach a higher band, the development of the arguments could be slightly more nuanced, perhaps by exploring the psychological reasons behind these preferences in greater depth, but the current level of development is sufficient for a solid performance.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0
The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each paragraph has a central topic sentence, and the progression of ideas is easy to follow. Cohesive devices such as 'To commence with', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion' are used effectively to link ideas. While the flow is generally smooth, some transitions could be more sophisticated to avoid a slightly mechanical feel. Overall, the paragraphing is appropriate and the structure supports the reader's understanding of the argument.
Lexical Resource — Band 6.0
The vocabulary is generally appropriate for the task, with some good collocations like 'conscious effort' and 'monotonous'. However, there are several spelling errors throughout the text, such as 'palces', 'benefical', 'acitivites', 'poeple', 'diffrent', 'worng', and 'tenporary'. These errors are frequent enough to be noticeable but do not impede communication. To improve, you should focus on proofreading to eliminate these minor slips, as a wider range of precise, error-free vocabulary would elevate the score significantly.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0
The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There is good control over complex sentences, such as 'While some individuals are enthusiastic about... others feel more comfortable...'. However, there are recurring grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'new things provides' and 'tasting... can introduces'. Additionally, there are minor punctuation and spacing errors. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the message, they occur frequently enough to limit the score. Increasing the accuracy of subject-verb agreement and proofreading for small slips will help improve this score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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