Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-04
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 5.5)
It is true that majority of people prefer to do their shopping from larg malls which ultimately cause clpsing of local small shops. Personally, I believe that this issue is a positive progress with several demerits which are worth considering.
Actually, shopping from huges supermarkets is really convenient and also time saving for customers as they can get wide variety of commodities at one place. Moreover, shopping malls usually have good deals on products like the discounts on the prices. In other words, they stimulate people for next purchase by this method.
On the other hand, although buying from shopping centreshas many merits, it has several demerits for small shop owners. They losw their customers due to such kinds of deals and discounts. Besides, they canot continue their businesses because of the tax and the maintenanace cost . In addition, many persons lose their careers and they will be frustrated about everything. I think authorities should prepare some facilities for them in order to prevent of closing and also reduce the rate of taxation for them. Moreover, people who live in each neighbourhood should buy some products from them so as support them and be as a motivation for them.
In conclusion, I have the opinion that individuals and authorities have a significant role in preserving small local shops in order to balalce among businesses and also promote development.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing whether the closure of local shops due to shopping malls is a positive or negative development, and a position is presented. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and under-developed, particularly when discussing solutions or the consequences for shop owners, which keeps the response at this level. Furthermore, the length requirement is not met, as the response falls short of the minimum word count of 250 words, totaling only 229 words.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5
The response demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression of ideas from introduction to body paragraphs and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different facets of the argument, such as the advantages of malls and the disadvantages for local shops. While cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or repetitive, such as the use of 'moreover' and 'on the other hand', referencing remains clear enough to ensure the overall message is easy to follow.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, with some attempts to use less common words and phrases like 'commodities', 'stimulate people', and 'preserving'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors, including spelling mistakes such as 'majority' missing an article, 'larg', 'clpsing', 'huges', and 'maintenanace', alongside awkward word choices like 'positive progress' and 'prepare some facilities'. These errors occasionally cause slight hesitation for the reader.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures such as conditional and concessive clauses. However, there are frequent grammatical errors in article usage, pluralisation, and prepositions, such as 'majority of people' instead of 'the majority', 'at one place' instead of 'in one place', and 'prevent of closing' instead of 'prevent them from closing'. While these errors persist, they rarely impede overall communication.
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