Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-14

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In recent years, many small local shops have closed because customers travel to large shopping centres or malls to do their shopping.

Is this a positive or a negative development?

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

 

Student answer (Band 6.5)

In recent years, development has become increasingly common in many parts of the world. While some people may argue that this is a positive development because it is creates convenience for the customers as they get all kind of variety they need under one roof. I believe it is predominantly negative development, mainly because it creates larger divide among various income groups. Moreover, it weakens the local community.

One major reason consider this as a negative development is it has a negative impact on small businesses and local employment. This is because independent shop owners are dependent on their local regular based customers to run there house and feed there family. Secondly, big shopping malls and complexes put local businesses to close their shops, which also creates unemployment in local community and small villages. For example, when a customer chooses a large shopping centers or complexes, a family owned run grocery shop can shut down because of competitive pricing, Furthermore, large business complexes provide variety of stuff under one roof.

Another reason is if stores and large shopping complexes become dominant in a particular area, it will be hard for local community or people who are living on a median wage to go shop in bigger complexes because they can't bargain and they have to pay a fixed price .Apart from that, it also leads to opportunity to interact with local businesses, owners, and neighbors. Thereby, it weakens the social connection of a local community.

I admit that large shopping centers and malls provide a lot of convenience for the customers. It provide competitive pricing, customers may get introduced to new brands and businesses. However, I believe the advantages are outweighed by the negative impacts on small businesses, particularly in long term.

In conclusion, I believe it is a negative impact because it can damage local employment while also reducing social connections of the communities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, providing a clear position that the trend is negative. The ideas are relevant, focusing on local employment and social cohesion. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat repetitive and occasionally lacks depth. For instance, the argument about 'bargaining' in large malls is a bit weak and could have been better explained. While the position is consistent, the supporting arguments would benefit from more specific, real-world examples rather than general statements. Overall, the response is well-focused on the task requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas. Cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'One major reason', and 'Furthermore' are used to link sentences and paragraphs. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are instances where the flow is interrupted by awkward phrasing, such as 'One major reason consider this as a negative development is it has...'. Despite these minor issues, the progression of ideas is clear and easy to follow throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express their ideas clearly. There is an attempt to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'competitive pricing', 'income groups', and 'social connection'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are instances of repetitive word choices (e.g., 'negative development' is used multiple times). Some word-choice errors occur, such as 'run there house' instead of 'run their households' and 'variety of stuff' which is too informal for an IELTS essay. Expanding the range of synonyms would improve the score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'it is creates', 'It provide') and pronoun usage (e.g., 'run there house' instead of 'their'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with some run-on sentences and missing commas. While these errors do not significantly impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher band score. More attention to proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy would be beneficial.

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

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