Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-28

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 5.5)

nowadays, new stories on television and in newspapers are often accompanied by pictures.some people say that pictures are more effective than words. i agree with this opinion because pictures can attract people's attention and help them understand the news more easily.

firstly, picture s can make news stories more interesting and easier to understand.when people see a picture they can understand without seeing and reading a long article. for instance, a picture of natural disaster and any type of destruction like flood,earthquake and so on can easily understand without read a long words or paragraph.it is very easy to understand for an older people. so people can read a newspaper easily .moreover, when an older people can not hear the sound on television and they just look picture inside them then it is very beneficial for everyone.

furthermore,when people read a long articles or words to describe a news. it is very difficult to understand for the older and less educated people. and young people also feel bore to read a long paragraph.so they cannot read a newsppaer but when pictures are given on the newspaper it can easy to understand the news.moreover, when countries matches are held then given picture describes who won the match.it can be very effectively to understand it.

in conclusion, picture can attract people's attention and help them understand the news quickly.it can also very beneficial for any age of people .so pictures must be put on the newspaper.however, people can become easy to read any newspaper.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the task by taking a clear position and supporting it with reasons and examples regarding why pictures are more effective than words in news. The ideas are relevant and generally developed, such as discussing how pictures aid comprehension for older or less-educated individuals, and how visual elements capture attention. However, there is a tendency to over-generalize and some arguments become repetitive, touching upon similar points about older people and ease of understanding across the body paragraphs. This places the response comfortably at Band 6.0, as it addresses the prompt adequately but lacks the deeper, more fully extended development required for a Band 7.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear stance stated in the introduction and reinforced in the conclusion. Paragraphing is attempted, with distinct body paragraphs, although internal cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. The use of cohesive devices is basic, relying heavily on transitional markers like 'firstly', 'furthermore', and 'in conclusion', but referencing and logical flow can be clunky. For instance, sentences like 'when people see a picture they can understand without seeing and reading a long article' show repetitive structural tying rather than smooth progression. Punctuation and capitalization errors also disrupt the natural flow, resulting in a Band 5.5 score.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms related to the prompt such as 'natural disaster', 'destruction', 'television', and 'newspapers'. However, the lexical range is somewhat limited and repetitive, with frequent reliance on basic words and phrases like 'understand', 'picture', and 'long article'. There are also notable word-choice and collocation errors, such as 'young people also feel bore' instead of 'bored', and awkward phrasings like 'when countries matches are held'. Spelling mistakes like 'earthquake' missing spaces or incorrect lowercase beginnings are present. These factors restrict the score to a Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar and punctuation is weak throughout the text. There are numerous punctuation errors, including a complete lack of capitalization at the beginning of sentences and after full stops, as well as missing spaces after punctuation marks. Grammatical errors are frequent, such as 'an older people' (plural/singular mismatch), 'without read a long words', and 'when an older people can not hear the sound'. While communication of the core ideas is generally maintained, the high density of basic grammatical and mechanical errors prevents the response from reaching Band 6.0, fitting the Band 5.0 descriptor well.

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

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