Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-11-14

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people say that it is possible to tell a lot about a person’s culture and character from their choice of clothes.

Do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Role of clothes have been changed over the years. Clothes play a crucial role in every sector, wheather is a corporate or film industry. It is often linked with social status of an indivudial. Many people believe that choice of garment says a lot about person's culture and character. I totally disagree with this statement. In my opinion person's behaviour shows more about their background and their personality.

To begin with, clothes are associated with work, as it clearly shows about your working background. For instance, people working in banking sector only wear formals, which does not tell about their personality because all the employees are following same dress code . Moreover their way of communication and ability to handle situation is more associated with their character. In the recent survey, it is found that employer offerd jobs on the basis of analitical thinking and creativity. Therefore, we can say that your skills are more important than your choice of clothes.

Secondly, every culture has their own clothing but that's not considered as a base to tell about a person. Furthermore, people often consider level of physical fitness and apperance as a base to jude a person's character and background. For example, mostly brown skin people are considered as south asian, which is not true most of the time. As, a result there are numerous other factors that are involved to depict about a person.

In conclusion, yes to an extent we can tell about an indivudial's culture and character through choice of clothes. But its personal prefference as lot of people often choose on the basis of comfort and budget. In my opinion their are other impoortant factors such as behaviour, fitness and more to predict cultural backgroud of personality.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You give a clear overall disagreement in the introduction and offer relevant reasons, especially the point that workplace uniforms do not reveal individual character. However, the response only partly fulfils the task because the conclusion shifts to saying clothes can reveal culture and character “to an extent,” which weakens your stated position. Some ideas also need fuller explanation: the example about brown skin and South Asian identity concerns appearance rather than clothing, and its connection to judging character is not made clear. Develop examples that directly compare clothing with behaviour or explain why clothing is an unreliable guide to culture and personality, then maintain one consistent position throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion. Sequencing phrases such as “To begin with,” “Moreover,” and “Secondly” help signal the main points. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear: the discussion moves from workplace dress codes to job selection, then from cultural clothing to skin colour and physical fitness without fully connecting these ideas. The conclusion also conflicts with the introduction, making the overall argument harder to follow. Use each paragraph to develop one central reason, and make the links between examples and claims explicit. More precise referencing would also help readers see what “this” or “their” refers to.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “social status,” “dress code,” “personality,” and “cultural background,” and the meaning is generally understandable. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, which sometimes makes the argument less clear. For example, “shows about your working background” and “depict about a person” are not natural expressions, while “base to tell about a person” is imprecise. There are also noticeable spelling errors, including “wheather,” “indivudial,” and “apperance.” Build a more accurate range of phrases for describing clothing and personal qualities, and check spelling and collocations during revision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and longer sentences, including clauses introduced by “because,” “which,” and “as a result.” These attempts allow you to express reasons and examples, but errors in sentence construction and basic grammar occur regularly. For instance, “Role of clothes have been changed” has problems with the article and subject–verb agreement, and “every culture has their own clothing” has unclear agreement. Several sentences also have faulty punctuation or clause structure, such as “As, a result there are numerous other factors…” and “For example, mostly brown skin people are considered as south asian, which is not true most of the time.” Review articles, agreement, and sentence boundaries, then edit longer sentences to ensure each clause is complete and clearly connected.

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.