Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

In this modern life, mass media plays a crucial role in the substantial changes happening in the world of entertainment. Nowadays, a fair amount of people believe that pictures showing on the television and in newspaper are more effective than words. In my opinion, people need the news to be more attractive by including pictures rather than words.

The first and foremost fact is that thumbnails are widely used by influencers to attract their followers. Likewise, visual media is using pictures rather than words. Most people like to watch thumbnails to understand the scenerio. For example, in the case of social media such as Youtube, many content creators use their thumbnails to attract their subscribers. Secondly, due to the hectic schedule of people, who are interested in viewing images for easily connect things to describe the collegues in there working place. Apart from this, images are powerful than words.

In addition to this, there are some students, who like to watch pictures of their cricket match in the newspaper instead of reading the summary. Because pictures help a person to identify the information through the color pattern and placement of the picture highlight that section to attract viewers.

In conclusion, television and newspaper are often accompanied by pictures but some people believe that these pictures are more effective than words. In my opinion, people need the news to be more informative and knowledgeble through pictures rather than words.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

Your position is identifiable: you favour pictures because they attract attention and help viewers take in information. The examples about social-media thumbnails and students looking at cricket photographs are relevant, but the explanation is brief and sometimes unclear; for instance, the point about people connecting images to describe colleagues at work is difficult to follow. The response also does not fully compare pictures with words or explain when written reporting may be more effective, so the discussion addresses the question only partially. The response is 230 words, below the 250-word minimum; the eight words copied from the task prompt were not counted. Develop each main reason with a clearer explanation and a specific example, and address both sides before concluding.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

There is a basic essay structure, with an introduction, supporting paragraphs and a conclusion, and signposts such as “Firstly,” “Secondly,” and “In addition to this” help show the intended sequence. However, the overall progression is not consistently clear: the first body paragraph moves from thumbnails to a difficult-to-understand workplace point, while the next introduces cricket photographs without clearly linking this example to the earlier reasoning. Some connections are mechanical or repetitive, and the conclusion largely repeats the introduction rather than drawing the points together. Organise each paragraph around one distinct reason, explain how its example supports your opinion, and use referencing and transitions that make those links explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some topic-related vocabulary, including “mass media,” “visual media,” “thumbnails,” and “attract,” and these choices make the general subject clear. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “crucial role” and “hectic schedule.” However, the range is uneven, and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or awkward, including “pictures showing on the television,” “images are powerful than words,” and “knowledgeble.” “Scenario” is misspelled as “scenerio,” and “collegues” is also misspelled. These errors do not prevent the reader from identifying your main view, but they reduce precision and naturalness. Choose common, accurate collocations and check spelling and word forms carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “people, who are interested in viewing images” and a reason clause beginning “Because pictures help a person…”. However, control is inconsistent, and several sentences contain errors that make the meaning harder to follow. For example, “a fair amount of people believe” has a mismatch between the quantity phrase and plural noun, while “pictures showing on the television and in newspaper” has problems with verb form and articles. The sentence beginning “Secondly, due to the hectic schedule…” is structurally incomplete and difficult to interpret. Practise building complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, and check agreement, articles, and sentence boundaries before submitting.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.