Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-30

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)

In the modern era, many individuals belives that pictures shown on newspaper and TV channeles are more understandable than words. In my perspective to some extent its more useful than words but sometimes its not effective. In the upcoming paragraphs i would like to put shed light in the reasons behind this.

To commence with, according to many people's perspective, news with pictures are more effective than words because it will easy for the prople to understand the news than reading, Sometimes, they read the whole paragraph on the newspaper or they watched the whole news story on TV but they are not able to understand the concept of the news without pictures. For instance, a survey was conducted by ABP news in India, in 2023 which stated that 80% of the people preffered to read the news with the pictures, Hence, the pictures are very useful to understand the concept of the news.

On the other hand, its not that much useful with the pictures because sometime they publish the news with the bad pictures that is not useful for the kids. To add to this, sometimes to explain the content they used bad pictures. For instance, a headline was published in Jag Bani newspaper in 2024, which illustrated that 82% of the people in India liked to read or watch the news without the pictures. As a result, for some reasons its not useful.

To conclude, news is more understandable and effective with the pictures but some time it puts the bad impact on the kids.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear, qualified opinion: pictures can make news easier to understand, but may sometimes have a negative effect on children. Both sides are addressed, and the examples about audience preferences are relevant to the topic. However, the discussion is only partly developed. The first body paragraph mainly repeats that pictures help people understand, while the second shifts to unsuitable images without explaining what kinds of images are harmful or how this affects children. The survey claims are presented as support, but their connection to your own reasoning is not explored. To strengthen the response, explain the conditions behind your view and develop each reason with a specific consequence or example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure, with an introduction, two contrasting body paragraphs and a conclusion. Signposts such as “To commence with,” “On the other hand” and “To conclude” help readers follow the intended direction. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes mechanical, and links between claims are not always clear. For example, the second paragraph moves from pictures being unsuitable for children to a survey about people preferring news without pictures, without explaining how the survey supports the point about children. Some references, including “it” and “this,” have unclear antecedents. Use fewer formulaic transitions and make the relationship between each example and its main idea explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate your main ideas, including “pictures,” “news story,” “understandable” and “effective.” There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “To add to this” and “As a result.” However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or repetitive, which sometimes makes the message less clear. Phrases such as “put shed light in the reasons” and “bad impact” are not natural in this context, while “useful” and “pictures” recur frequently. Spelling errors such as “belives,” “channeles” and “preffered” are noticeable. Build a more precise vocabulary for describing visual reporting and its effects, and check spelling and collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentences, including clauses introduced by “because” and “which,” so there is some variety. The main ideas are generally understandable, but errors are frequent and sometimes make sentence relationships difficult to follow. For example, “news with pictures are more effective … because it will easy” has problems with agreement and sentence construction; “Sometimes, they read … or they watched” shifts tense inconsistently; and “a headline … which illustrated” does not clearly express the intended relationship. There are also recurring issues with articles, plurals, and punctuation, as in “on newspaper” and the comma splice before “Hence.” Practise accurate sentence patterns and maintain consistent tense, especially in examples.

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