Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-22

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 6.0)

What makes a newspaper article a good read or a TV news show interesting is the use of simple words and sentences with less ambiguity. The aim is to convey the intimestended information in a way that is best understood by the recipients, which happen to include individuals from all age groups and different educational background. Do you know what makes this transmission more seamless? Pictures.

The importance of pictures and illustrations in newspapers and TV cannot be overstated. Most times an information that may need 200 words to convey, can be done with jsut two pictures that won't take more than half a page on the newspaper. Even in news presentation, due to language barrier or some accents being naturally diffficult to hear, pictures really do a better job in passing the same information.

Take for instance, the cartoon pages of newspapers. Those sections of newspapers have always been the most cherished parts of a newspapers; caricatures are sometimes used to tell the most seriouse of news and most times if not all, language barrier is never a problem beacuse pictures are universal, an image drawn as a man will be recognized anywhere in the world, while the world 'man' will have a different translation in another language; say russian.

On TV, pictures are more appealling as they provide more insights to a story when it is being told. For instance, a news about on going wars and bombardments will not be truly complete without visual representation of what is truly going on. It would take pictures of children suffering and crying to achieve the intended sympathetic effect of the news.

Hence, it is important that in passing information of any kind, pictures should be made available for more clarity.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear: you argue that pictures are more effective because they communicate across language barriers and make news more vivid. The examples of newspaper cartoons and images of war support this view, and you address both newspapers and television. This meets the task well, but the comparison with words is not explored equally throughout. For example, the claim that two pictures can replace 200 words is asserted rather than explained, and the cartoon example could show more specifically how an image communicates a particular news message. The final paragraph repeats your preference without acknowledging any limits, such as the need for words to explain context or verify details. Develop these points to make the argument more fully supported.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a coherent overall structure: an introduction, discussion of pictures in newspapers, an example involving cartoons, a television example, and a conclusion. Paragraphing helps distinguish the main examples, and linking phrases such as “Take for instance” and “Hence” make the progression easy to follow. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. The opening rhetorical question, “Do you know what makes this transmission more seamless?”, creates an abrupt transition, while “Most times” and “Even in news presentation” do not clearly signal how the next points relate. The long cartoon paragraph also combines several claims that would benefit from clearer sequencing. Use more precise links between each claim and its example, and make the conclusion synthesize rather than simply repeat the main view.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including “ambiguity,” “recipients,” “language barrier,” “caricatures,” and “visual representation.” These choices help express your ideas, and the meaning is generally clear. There are also attempts at less common or emphatic phrasing, such as “cannot be overstated” and “sympathetic effect,” though some combinations are not natural or precise: “intimestended information” appears to be a mistaken form, and “more insights to a story” would be better expressed as “greater insight into a story.” Spelling slips such as “jsut,” “diffficult,” “seriouse,” “beacuse,” and “appealling” reduce accuracy. Aim for precise collocations and proofread carefully, especially where a spelling error changes or obscures a word.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex structures, including relative clauses (“which happen to include individuals…”) and conditional phrasing (“an information that may need 200 words…”). Most ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical errors affect accuracy. For example, “an information” uses an uncountable noun with an article, and “different educational background” needs a plural or determiner. In “Most times an information … can be done,” the subject and verb construction is awkward; information is conveyed, rather than “done.” The sentence beginning “Those sections of newspapers” shifts into a semicolon-linked series with unclear agreement and punctuation, and “a news about” has an incorrect article pattern. Review articles, countability, agreement, and sentence boundaries, while retaining your attempts at complex sentences.

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