Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-19

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, many small local shops have been forced to close as consumers increasingly perfer large shopping centres and malls. Although this trend offers some benefits in terms of convenience and choice, I believe it is largely a negative development because it damages local economies and weakens community realtionships.

On the one hand, Large shopping centres provide several advantages for consumers. They bring a wide variety of shops, restaurants and entertainment facilities together in one location, allowing people to save time and effort. Moreover, large retailers can often offer lower prices because they purchase goods in bulk. This can be beneficial for families who are trying to reduce their everyday expenses. Malls also provide parking, shelter from bad weather and longer opening hours, making shopping more convenient.

However, the closure off small local businesses has more serious consequences. Firstly, independent shops often empoloy residents and keep money circulating within the community. When they disappear, profits are more likely to flow to large national or international companies instead. Secondly, small shops provide personalised service and sell distinctive products that cannot be easliy found in major retail chains. Their disappearance reduces consumer choices in the long term. Finally, local stores offent act as social spaces where neighbours meet and interact. Losing them can make neighbourhoods less lively and weaken the sense of community.

In conclusion, while large shopping centres offers convenience, competitive prices and greater variety, the whidespread closur off local shops is a negative development overall.

Protecting small businesses is important for maintaining employment, diversity and strong local communities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response fully addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the positive and negative aspects of the trend before clearly stating the writer's position that it is largely a negative development. The ideas are well-developed and supported with relevant explanations, such as the economic impact on local communities and the social role of small shops. For example, the student explains how independent shops employ local residents and keep money circulating within the community, providing sound justification for their perspective. There is a clear overall development throughout the essay, and the arguments are extended effectively without straying off-topic. All parts of the prompt are given due attention, resulting in a well-rounded and cohesive task response that easily meets the criteria for Band 7.0, bordering on Band 7.5 due to the clear position and well-reasoned support.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay demonstrates a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. The response is divided into logical paragraphs, with a clear introduction, separate body paragraphs addressing the advantages and disadvantages respectively, and a concise conclusion. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well to guide the reader through the arguments, such as 'On the one hand', 'However', 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'Finally'. However, there are a few minor instances of mechanical or slightly repetitive transitions. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, ensuring that the overall arrangement remains coherent and easy to follow. Referencing is generally clear, and the flow of ideas is maintained from the introductory stance down to the final summary, earning a solid Band 7.0 for Coherence and Cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow some flexibility and precision, successfully employing less common lexical items such as 'circulating', 'distinctive products', and 'entertainment facilities'. However, there are a few noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'perfer' instead of 'prefer', 'realtionships' instead of 'relationships', 'off' instead of 'of', 'empoloy' instead of 'employ', 'easliy' instead of 'easily', 'offent' instead of 'often', 'whidespread' instead of 'widespread', and 'closur' instead of 'closure'. While these errors do not impede communication and the intended meaning is always clear, their frequency prevents the lexical score from reaching the higher band thresholds. The student demonstrates an adequate and generally appropriate vocabulary range for this task type, justifying a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The essay displays a good mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at varied structures such as concessive clauses ('Although this trend offers some benefits...') and relative clauses ('...products that cannot be easily found...'). There is generally good control of grammar and punctuation, and the majority of simple sentences are accurate. However, minor grammatical and mechanical errors persist, such as 'large shopping centres offers' (subject-verb agreement error in the conclusion) and punctuation/spacing issues like 'local economies'. Despite these persistent errors, they rarely impede communication, and the complex structures used show a reasonable degree of control. This balance of mixed structures and occasional grammatical lapses aligns comfortably with the descriptor for Band 6.5.

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