Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-19
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)
Some people believe that choice of clothes tell so much about a person's character and culture. I partly agree with this viewpoint because clothing can revel some information about traditions and culture. However, it is impossible to know the character of a person based on their choice of clothes.
To begin with, dressing style can sometimes help to learn about a person's culture and traditions. For example, men belong to Sikh religion usually wear a turban, similarly Muslim women wear hijab. Thereby, it becomes easier for other people to know their religion just by looking at them. Secondly, bright and unusual clothes reflects a creative person whereas, a three piece suit usually shows responsibility and a higher position.
On the other hand, clothes cannot help to know the character of an individual because some people wear clothes according to weather, job, and financial conditions. For instance, a quite person may wear bright colors, while a confident and outgoing individual prefer simple clothing. Thus clothes can never tell the true personality of an individual.
To conclude, clothes can sometime depict cultural value of a person but it is not possible to learn about someone's characteristics by clothing.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses the prompt by providing a clear position, but it is significantly under the 250-word minimum requirement. This lack of length prevents the development of ideas, leading to a superficial treatment of the topic. While the arguments regarding culture are relevant, the discussion on character is underdeveloped and lacks sufficient supporting evidence or depth. To improve, you must expand your points with more detailed explanations and additional examples to meet the word count and fully explore the complexities of the prompt.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'To begin with,' 'Secondly,' 'On the other hand,' and 'To conclude' are used to signal the progression of ideas. However, the transitions are somewhat mechanical, and the brevity of the response limits the flow between sentences. The paragraphing is appropriate, but the overall structure feels thin due to the lack of content. Improving the depth of your arguments will naturally lead to better cohesion.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is adequate for the task but remains quite basic. There are some errors in word choice and form, such as 'revel' instead of 'reveal' and 'men belong to Sikh religion' instead of 'men belonging to the Sikh religion.' While you attempt to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'traditions' and 'personality,' the range is limited. To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise collocations and a wider variety of vocabulary to express your ideas with greater sophistication and accuracy.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('choice of clothes tell' should be 'tells'), missing articles ('a quite person' should be 'a quiet person'), and incorrect verb forms ('clothes reflects' should be 'clothes reflect'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are persistent throughout the text. Increasing your control over basic grammar and punctuation, while experimenting with more complex sentence forms, will help improve your score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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