Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-18

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 the contemporary era, a trend of shopping from large shopping centers has been increasing gradually. Although, malls and shopping center make purchase affordable and comparing, local shops may contribute to improve local economy, provide trust and quality. Therefore, shutting down of local shops may consider as negative development.

On the one hand, large shopping centers provide numerous benefits to customers. First and foremost is comparison. Consumers can compare different brand products together under a one roof. This may allow them to take mindful decision while purchasing. Apart from this, many shopping malls offer various discounts; which encourage people to shop more within budget limit.

However, large shopping malls would like to sale foreign brand products. Therefore, more number of sale can contribute in foreign economy. For example, if an individual purchase a pair of shoes from Nike; he would promote the foreign brand pay and not only pay for the actual amount but also pay high taxes and many more.

On the other hand, there are compelling reasons people chose local shops over large malls. Quality and trust are the commonest reasons. Buyers can check quality from different perspectives and choose their decisions. In addition if they found something wrong they may exchange the product without any hesitation. Moreover, if people choose to buy product from local seller; they will invest in local product. This rotates the money in a loop; and contribute to improve local business.

To conclude, although large shopping center and malls offer various discount, people should choose local business to improve local economy and boost their sale and motivation.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task and maintains a clear position throughout, arguing that the closure of local shops is a negative development. The ideas are relevant, such as the economic impact on local businesses versus the convenience of malls. However, some points are under-developed; for instance, the argument regarding foreign brands and taxes is slightly confusing and lacks a clear link to the overall economic impact. While the position is consistent, the supporting arguments could be more nuanced to reach a higher band. Overall, the response is well-focused on the prompt.

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 the benefits of malls from the advantages of local shops. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'However', and 'Moreover' are used to guide the reader. However, some transitions are slightly mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing and punctuation, such as the semicolon usage in 'discounts; which encourage'. Despite these minor flaws, the progression of ideas is clear and easy to follow throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express their ideas clearly. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'contemporary era' and 'compelling reasons'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'make purchase affordable and comparing' (should be 'comparable') and 'more number of sale' (should be 'higher sales volume'). These errors do not impede communication but prevent the response from reaching a higher band. A wider range of precise vocabulary would improve the overall quality.

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 articles ('the' vs 'a'), pluralization ('shutting down of local shops may consider'), and verb forms ('if they found something wrong'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with some misuse of semicolons and commas. While the errors do not prevent understanding, they are frequent enough to limit the score. To improve, the student should focus on subject-verb agreement and the correct use of articles.

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