Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-14

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)

Recently, there has been a trend of customers travelling to large shopping centres or malls instead of small local stores for their shopping needs. There are both pros and cons of this changing trend as going to shopping centres gives the customers more options and lesser prices but it does not give them a personalised experience like the local shops.

On a positive side, there are various benefits of more large-scale shopping centres and malls as the shoppers get more variety to choose from. Not only do they get more variety, they also get it at a cheaper price. The reason for this is that the large departmental stores procure the inventory in bulk at much lower price than smaller businesses, therefore they are able to offer much lower prices. They are also located a bit further from the residential areas where they can establish it in a larger area, giving them more space to stock items enabling them to offer more variety.

There is also the other side of the coin which are the negative impacts of this trend. The malls and shopping centres has much more footfall and they attend a lot of customers. Also, they hire staff to attend the customers which keeps on changing in contrast to local shops, where the shop owners are usually at the shop. This gives the local shops the ability to give a more personalised experience to their customers as they know them by face or sometimes on a first-name basis. Thus, giving the customers a better feel when visiting the local shops.

In conclusion, while there are both advantages of shopping at large shopping centres like more variety and discounted price, there are also disadvantages of a non-personalised experience which the local shop owners can offer.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the positive and negative developments associated with the rise of large shopping malls over small local shops. A clear position is established in the introduction and maintained throughout the essay. The student's ideas are extended and supported with relevant explanations, such as bulk procurement leading to lower prices and the personal interaction found in local stores. While some points could benefit from even deeper elaboration or concrete examples from personal experience, the overall task response fulfills the requirements for Band 7, as it covers both sides of the issue clearly and maintains a consistent focus on the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay displays a clear logical organization and progression throughout. Each paragraph has a distinct focus: the introduction outlines the trend, the second body paragraph covers the advantages, the third body paragraph examines the disadvantages, and the conclusion summarizes the points. Cohesive devices are used adequately, such as 'On a positive side', 'The reason for this', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and transitions are at times slightly mechanical, for instance starting a paragraph with 'There is also the other side of the coin which are the negative impacts'. Overall, the logical structure and clear paragraphing place this response securely at Band 6.5, leaning towards Band 7.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'procure', 'inventory', 'footfall', and 'personalised experience'. Word choice is generally appropriate, though there are occasional inaccuracies or awkward phrasings, such as 'lesser prices' instead of 'lower prices' and 'they attend a lot of customers' instead of 'they serve a lot of customers'. Spelling and word formation are generally accurate, and vocabulary does not impede communication. These characteristics align well with the Band 6 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and conditional structures successfully (e.g., 'where the shop owners are usually at the shop'). However, there are a few grammatical errors that distract the reader, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('The malls and shopping centres has much more footfall') and minor prepositional or pluralisation slips. Despite these errors, meaning is never impeded, and the majority of simpler structures are accurate, supporting a solid Band 6 performance.

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