Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-02

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 6.0)

Nowadays it is a fact that large shopping centres or malls are growing like champions around the island. Customers are therefore willing to travel these places for their shopping where they could get nearly all the things they need rather than going to many small local shops closeby. It is argued that these developments could be seen as both positive or negative.

The good side of these changes, is that doing shopping in these places enables people to have their goods in one place and at the same time they could stroll and relax after a day work. Another positive thing is that shopping malls usually make promotions that individual shops would not. They can therefore benefit from these sales and purchase intelligently. Moreover, in malls you could get a selected of items at different prices and as customer is king, they could choose where to buy.

However, the negative aspect is that small local shops will have to close down if they do not have customers. It will be difficult for them to bear the cost of rental and employees. Local shops also do not have a variety of items as sometimes shops try to specialize in few commodities. This limit the choice that customers might have and the price might also be higher.

In my opinion, we are facing with clever customers nowadays and since these shopping centres or malls are easily accessible by transport, customers will not hesitate to travel to get better things at cheaper price. To preserve the history of local shop, they should join a cooperative for their survival or transform their shop where ancient stuff could be obtained.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the positive and negative aspects of the proliferation of shopping malls versus local shops, and a clear personal position is presented in the final paragraph. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others. For instance, the positive points regarding shopping malls offering a variety of goods and promotions are outlined, but the exploration of the economic impact on local communities is somewhat general. The ideas presented are relevant to the prompt, yet certain arguments, such as the survival strategies for local shops mentioned in the conclusion, could have been extended earlier in the body paragraphs to achieve greater depth. Overall, the treatment of the prompt satisfies the requirements for addressing all aspects of the task, though development is uneven across different sections.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The text maintains a coherent overall arrangement with a clear progression of ideas from the introduction through the body paragraphs to the conclusion. Paragraphing is used logically to separate the opposing viewpoints and the author's final opinion. Cohesive devices are employed to connect sentences and paragraphs, such as 'The good side of these changes', 'Another positive thing', and 'However, the negative aspect'. However, some of these cohesive links and referencing elements are occasionally mechanical or slightly repetitive in style. The transition between sentences within paragraphs functions adequately, though a more varied range of cohesive phrasing would enhance the overall flow. The response successfully meets the requirements of clear logical organisation while showing glimpses of more sophisticated organizational control.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully communicating the writer's ideas. There are attempts to use less common items and phrasing, such as 'proliferation' implied by 'growing like champions', 'cooperative', and 'specialize in few commodities'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'growing like champions' rather than 'springing up' or 'flourishing', and 'a selected of items' instead of 'a selection of items'. Word formation errors also appear, such as 'at cheaper price' instead of 'at a cheaper price' or 'cheaper prices'. Despite these occasional errors in word choice and form, the vocabulary is sufficient to allow the reader to follow the argument without difficulty, and spelling remains generally accurate throughout the response.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating structures such as conditional and concessive clauses, for example, 'if they do not have customers' and 'since these shopping centres or malls are easily accessible'. There are some errors in grammar, including articles, plurals, and prepositions within patterns, such as 'travel these places' instead of 'travel to these places', 'after a day work' instead of 'after a day's work', and 'we are facing with clever customers' where the preposition 'with' is unnecessary. Punctuation is generally functional, and the grammatical errors present are occasional rather than frequent, meaning they rarely impede communication. The sentence structures show adequate variety to convey the intended meaning clearly.

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