Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-19

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 stories are accompanied by pictures on all the platforms including newspapers and news channels. Some people argue that, these images are more effective than words. This essay will discuss all the causes and effects before presenting my opinion.

First of all, news presented along with images are really effective to catch immediate attention of the audience. Secondly, it makes the news much more memorable for the viewers. Pictures can speak the story before words. For example, images of floods or earthquake can explain the seriouness of the situation without an explanation. Moreover, individulas with limited language skills can understand the context without reading it.

On the other hand, pictures can be sometimes misleading and taken out of context. For example, a photo of protesting people can't tell about the protest. In these cases, an explanation from a news anchor or a written article would be needed to undertand the whole context. Moreover, images of accidents and dissasters can be overwhelmed for some people such as children and elderly. A news article with serious photos can impact negatively on the sensitive mind of kids.

In my perspective, the use of images in journalism is effective, unless it does not impact audience in negative ways. The use of photography in news can make a news more memorable for viewers and can tell the story better.

To sum up, all news platform depends on pictures to make their news story more eye catching. However, the use of appropriate photograps would give a good understanding to the audience.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, providing a clear opinion that images are effective but have limitations. The ideas are relevant, such as the ability of images to convey urgency or the risk of them being misleading. However, the development is somewhat limited. For instance, the point about images being 'overwhelmed' (overwhelming) for children is a good observation but could be expanded with more specific reasoning or a clearer link to the overall argument. The introduction mentions discussing 'causes and effects,' which is slightly off-topic as the prompt asks for an opinion on effectiveness, not a causal analysis. Overall, the position is clear and maintained throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs. Each paragraph has a central theme, and the progression of ideas is generally easy to follow. Cohesive devices such as 'First of all,' 'Secondly,' 'On the other hand,' and 'To sum up' are used to link ideas. However, some transitions are a bit mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing, such as the phrase 'all the platforms' in the introduction, which lacks a clear antecedent. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the advantages and disadvantages of using images in news.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task. You use some topic-specific terms like 'journalism,' 'context,' and 'memorable.' However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'seriouness' (spelling error: seriousness), 'individulas' (spelling error: individuals), 'dissasters' (spelling error: disasters), and 'overwhelmed' instead of 'overwhelming.' These errors do not impede communication, but they prevent the essay from reaching a higher band. To improve, focus on using more precise collocations and ensuring accurate spelling of key terms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'all news platform depends' (should be 'platforms depend'), 'can't tell about the protest' (awkward phrasing), and 'unless it does not impact' (the double negative makes the meaning confusing). Punctuation is generally acceptable, though there are occasional missing commas. While the meaning is always clear, the frequency of these minor errors suggests a need for more careful proofreading of subject-verb agreement and sentence construction.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.