Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-06
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)
People have different viewpoint about choices of clothes. Many individuals opine that it is possible to guess a lot regarding person's culture and character from their attire. I completely disagree with this view, and I will prove my stance in the ensuing paragraphs before drawing a rational conclusion at the end.
To begin with, we cannot judge any person based on their clothes. Although, we may have some idea about their culture, we can not tell anything about their personality. For example, if someone like to wear suit, then we might guess that they are following western culture. However, we cannot tell anything related to his character because that person may or may not have good character. To explain, person's clothes does not describe anything related to their character in the real life.
Furthermore, sometime people may wear clothes, which might be from another culture. In other words, If someone wear formal western attire like shirts and pants, then it does not mean that person is following western culture. Additionally, if someone likes to wear traditional attire like kurta and pajamas, then it does not mean that they have orthodox mentality and have boring personality. Moreover, it is not possible to generalize anything about person's character by just looking at their choice of clothes.
In conclusion, it is impossible to imagine about person's background and character from their dresses because person's clothes does not correlate with their real personality and culture, and because of these reasons I disagree with the viewpoint.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position against the idea that clothing reflects character or culture. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you provide examples like 'western attire' and 'kurta and pajamas', the arguments remain repetitive. To reach a higher band, you should expand on the 'why' and 'how'—for example, discussing the influence of globalization, personal preference, or professional dress codes in more detail. The conclusion is a bit redundant, merely restating the introduction rather than synthesizing the main points. The response is just over the minimum length, which restricts the depth of your analysis.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'Furthermore', and 'In conclusion' to signal transitions. However, the flow within paragraphs is sometimes mechanical, and the use of referencing is occasionally imprecise (e.g., 'that person' or 'their'). Some sentences feel disjointed because the logical links between the premise and the conclusion are not always fully developed. Improving the variety of cohesive devices and ensuring smoother transitions between sentences would enhance the overall flow.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. You rely on basic terms like 'good character', 'boring personality', and 'guess'. There are some inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'imagine about' instead of 'infer' or 'deduce', and 'dresses' when referring to general clothing. To improve, try to incorporate more sophisticated vocabulary related to the topic, such as 'superficial', 'misconception', 'cultural identity', or 'professionalism'. The current range is sufficient to convey your meaning, but it does not demonstrate the flexibility needed for a higher score.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors that affect the quality of the writing. Common issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'person's clothes does not describe'), article usage (e.g., 'if someone like to wear suit'), and missing pluralization. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your argument, they are persistent throughout the text. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence construction, specifically ensuring that subjects and verbs agree and that articles are used correctly before singular countable nouns.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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