Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-06

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)

The trend of sharing stories using pictures is increasing day by day on television and in newspapers. Many people think that this particular method is more effective in sharing news stories with people rather than using just words. I strongly agree with this opinion. I have two main reasons to back my views. Firstly, I think story telling is an art. You have engage people to read stories in newspapers, and there is no better way to make people focus on a particular news, with the help of images. No one in this age reads [redacted phone] words of story. It is rather boring.

Secondly, most people have photographic memory. There is more chance that someone will remember what they saw on the television than what they read somewhere. I am now going to briefly explain both my reasons along with some examples.

In this modern day and age, people have a lot of social media places to consume content. This has caused a severe decline in the attention span of most people. They would not stop to read two big pages of story on a newspaper. they find it rather boring. For this purpose, Newspapers and TV channels have developed a strategy to show news using vibrant images, which makes their content much more interesting for the audience. It helps summarise the entire story in one picture and therefore, it is very helpful for the people with an attention deficit. for an instance, I was reading a newspaper this morning and quickly turning through the pages, because I was not finding anything interesting to read. Until, I saw a picture of a pretty little sad girl on page 5. That image caught my attention and then I read the entire article about that girl in the newspaper.

Another benefit of creating images of the news stories is that people are more likely to remember what they saw as opposed to what they read. Most people are very visual, and therefore a fun and interesting image will remain in their minds for a longer period of time. I saw an image of a very pretty house that was destroyed in a flood in Japan and I still remember it to this day. If I had read the news without the graphic image, I am pretty sure I would not have remembered it.

In conclusion, pictures are a great way of making your audience engaged as well as helping them remember your story for a longer period of time. It is no doubt more effective way of communicating with the people than words.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

Your position is clear from the introduction to the conclusion: you agree that pictures communicate news more effectively than words. You give two relevant reasons—images attract attention and are easier to remember—and support them with personal examples, including the photograph of the girl that led you to read an article and the flood-damaged house in Japan. This addresses the task and provides a developed response. However, some claims are broad, such as “most people have photographic memory” and “No one in this age reads 400-500 words,” and are not qualified or supported with evidence. The first reason is explained more fully than the second. To strengthen the response, develop the memory point further and acknowledge that words may be more effective for conveying detail or context.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction states your view, two body paragraphs develop separate reasons, and a conclusion restates your position. The progression from attracting attention to helping readers remember information is logical, and signposts such as “Firstly,” “Secondly,” and “In conclusion” make the organisation easy to follow. Some cohesion is more mechanical than necessary: the introduction announces that you will explain both reasons, then the body repeats the same sequence, while “I am now going to briefly explain” adds little. There are also abrupt transitions within the first body paragraph, particularly from the general point about attention spans to the personal newspaper example. Use more natural links between claims and examples, and ensure each paragraph develops one connected line of reasoning.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary to discuss the topic, including “attention span,” “vibrant images,” “summarise,” and “visual.” These choices help explain how pictures can attract an audience and aid recall. However, some wording is repetitive or imprecise: “story/stories” and “people” recur often, while “social media places” is an unnatural expression. Phrases such as “pretty little sad girl” and “fun and interesting image” are conversational and do not convey the point as precisely as more neutral academic wording would. There are also collocation issues, including “creating images of the news stories” and “making your audience engaged.” Aim for more precise, formal phrasing and vary repeated vocabulary while keeping your meaning clear.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including subordinate clauses such as “because I was not finding anything interesting to read” and conditional structures such as “If I had read the news without the graphic image…”. Meaning remains clear throughout. Some grammatical errors and punctuation problems remain, however. For example, “You have engage people” needs a correctly formed verb (“You have to engage”), and “No one in this age reads…” shifts from the essay’s first-person perspective to a broad claim. Sentence boundaries and capitalisation also need attention: “they find it rather boring” and “for an instance” follow full stops but begin with lowercase letters. Review verb forms, sentence openings, and punctuation to make the writing more consistently accurate.

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