Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-04
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)
In today's fast-paced world it is extreamly crucial to stay up to date of the news around the world. A group of people thinks that, visual represenations convey the news better than written text, while others believe the opposite. According to me both pictures and words are important. In this essay I will discuss both aspects and possible reasons to support my opinion.
To begin with,my first significant reason is that, photographs make the news interesting and immidately grab attention of both readers and viewers. For instance, when audience watch news on TV or read on newspaper first thing that make them to stop is the pictures of the incident. Secondly, pictures give the general idea about the news and make the audience courious to know the whole story of the incident.
On the other side, words also play a vital role in explaining a news completely. Because, pictures show the half or a short visual of the story, which might lead to a misunderstanding about the news among public. That is where, words come into play and describe the whole incident. For example, last month I read a news about stabbing of a young girl at the yonge street in Toronto. In the picture, there was a member of public holding a knife and sitting near the victim, which looked like he stabbed the girl. However, after reading the whole news, it turned out that he was helping the victim and securing the evidence to hand over to the police upon arrial.
Therefore, In my opinion, both words and photos play a vital role in delivering a precise information to the public. News can be incomplete or misleading if any one of both is missing.
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 successfully addresses all parts of the task and presents a clear position throughout. The introduction outlines the writer's view that both pictures and words are important, which is then maintained. Ideas are generally extended and supported, such as when the writer discusses how pictures grab attention and support this with an example about a news incident in Toronto. However, there is a tendency to slightly over-generalise in places, and some supporting ideas could be explored with even greater depth. To move into the higher band, the writer would need to fully develop every supporting point with richer elaboration and more nuanced reasoning without leaving any argument feeling somewhat brief.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0
The essay displays clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Information and ideas are presented in a coherent sequence with each paragraph having a distinct focus, moving from an introduction to arguments regarding pictures, arguments regarding words, and a concluding summary. The writer uses cohesive devices reasonably well, such as 'To begin with', 'Secondly', and 'On the other side', though some transitions feel slightly mechanical. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different facets of the argument. To achieve a higher level of cohesion, the writer could make the referencing between sentences smoother and employ a more flexible, less formulaic range of cohesive links.
Lexical Resource: Band 6.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating points about media and news reporting. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary and phrases, such as 'visual representations', 'precision information', and 'securing the evidence'. However, these are accompanied by some word-choice and spelling errors, such as 'extreamly' instead of 'extremely', 'represenations' instead of 'representations', and 'immidately' instead of 'immediately'. While these errors do not impede communication, they restrict the lexical score. To reach the next band, the writer needs to expand their range of vocabulary, demonstrate more precise control over collocations, and eliminate basic spelling mistakes.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0
The response employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an ability to construct multi-clause sentences such as 'However, after reading the whole news, it turned out that he was helping the victim...'. There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, including missing articles and awkward preposition use, such as 'at the yonge street' instead of 'on Yonge Street', and unnecessary commas like 'Therefore, In my opinion'. Nevertheless, these errors rarely impede communication. To progress further, the writer should increase the frequency of error-free complex sentences and refine their control over punctuation and article usage.
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