Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-18

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

News stories on TV and in newspapers are very often accompanied by pictures.

Some people say that these pictures are more effective than words.

What is your opinion about this?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Nowadays, news papers and tv reporters add pictures to their stories to drive people's attention towards the news so that readers or viewers take full interest. I think it makes it interesting as well as people become more aware of the reality. In short, it has many positive impacts in my opinion.

Firstly, if there's a picture of the crime scene that took place at someone's house then not only the people reading or watching the news will know but they will become more aware of how it happens and be aware that they don't fall into same prey. For example, robbery took place in one of the areas of Ahmedabad city where robbers killed two elderly people living in the house and looted them. The editor of the news added pictures with full details how it took place which made many elderly people aware of the crime and most of them stopped allowing strangers to enter their home.

Additionally, images of the special news like kite festival taking place in the city attracts many people to attend it. For instance, the kite festival which takes place in Rann of Kutch every year in the month of February. Initially, when the festival began only some people knew about it and attended it but after the news came on tv and the news paper with the images of huge kites in the sky, many celebrities and people from all over the world have started attending it. It has not only increased the income of local people of Kutch but also added an extra fun to people's lives.

Sometimes adding images with news stories might have negative impact. For example if news editor is adding pictures of the rape scene that took place without hiding the victim's face, the family of victim has to face lot of problems emotionally.

In summary, adding pictures to news stories on tv and newspapers makes it very effective but the editor of the news should be mindful of what kind of pictures they are attaching and whether it will have positive or negative impact on reader's lives.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, providing a clear opinion that pictures are effective while acknowledging potential drawbacks. The ideas are relevant and supported by specific examples, such as the Ahmedabad robbery and the Rann of Kutch kite festival. The position is consistent throughout the essay. To reach a higher band, the development of the negative impact could be more balanced with the positive arguments, as the current structure leans heavily on the benefits. Overall, the response is well-focused and meets the requirements of the task effectively.

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 theme, and the progression of ideas is easy to follow. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Additionally', and 'In summary' are used appropriately to guide the reader. However, some transitions are slightly mechanical, and the referencing could be more sophisticated. For instance, the link between the negative impact paragraph and the previous points could be smoother. Overall, the paragraphing is sufficient and contributes to a coherent flow of information.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate and allows for clear communication of ideas. There is an attempt to use topic-specific language like 'crime scene', 'looted', and 'emotionally'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are occasional inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'drive people's attention' (should be 'draw') and 'special news' (which is vague). The use of less common lexical items is somewhat restricted. Expanding the range to include more precise collocations and academic vocabulary would help elevate the score in this criterion.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is always clear, there are frequent minor grammatical errors, such as missing articles ('in one of the areas of Ahmedabad city', 'on tv and the news paper') and issues with pluralization or preposition usage ('take full interest', 'added an extra fun'). Despite these errors, they do not impede communication. To improve, focus on article usage and subject-verb agreement. The control of punctuation is generally good, but the sentence variety could be increased to demonstrate higher grammatical flexibility.

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