Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-01

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

The growth of online shopping will one day lead to all shops in towns and cities closing.

Do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 6.5)

It is often discussed that with the technological advancement, online shopping gained popularity among the people and most of the local shops in the towns and cities are facing huge losses. Consequently, all these shops may go out of business. I certainly disagree with this statement, as there are many products which people mostly consider to buy from offine retail shops.

To commence with, shopping online is considered as one stop shop for all the products because most of the websites provide everything under one roof. Additionally, they also give access to pay through different payment options such as credit card, debit card, and through e-banking. Whereas people often prefer to buy multiple items by personally visiting the store such as furniture, as in online website, individuals are not able to feel the comfort of sofa or bed. Similarly, such products are expensive and there are multiple fake e-commerce sites on internet which may cause fraud with clients. Due to these factors traditional shops and business will remain in business.

Morover, despite of having 24 hour customer support and strong refund policies, individuals avoid using online apps to buy jewellery items of gold or diamond. This is because, they prefer to trust someone in the market who have physical shop and answer their queries anytime. For instance, there are many viral videos on internet where people make expensive purchases online such as mobile phones and gold coin and ended up getting scammed.

To sum up, shopping from e-commerce websites is convenient and huge variety is available to choose from with different payment options. However, there are multiple risks involve such as leak of banking information or fraud. Additionally, people prefer to buy expensive products such as gold, silver and furniture from their trusted ofline stores. Due to these merits, several shops and business remain in market even in future.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You have clearly addressed the prompt by taking a firm position against the idea that all physical shops will close. You provide relevant reasons, such as the need to physically inspect high-value items like furniture and the security concerns regarding online scams. The ideas are generally well-developed, though the argument could be strengthened by exploring the 'experience' aspect of physical shopping (e.g., social interaction or immediate gratification) to further contrast with online convenience. Overall, you have met the requirements of the task by providing a clear, supported argument throughout the essay.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You use cohesive devices such as 'To commence with', 'Additionally', 'Similarly', and 'Moreover' to guide the reader through your arguments. However, some transitions are slightly mechanical or repetitive. For instance, the use of 'Additionally' appears in multiple paragraphs. The paragraphing is appropriate, and there is a clear progression of ideas from the convenience of online shopping to the specific risks and trust issues associated with it. Improving the variety of linking phrases would help the flow feel more natural.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'technological advancement', 'e-commerce', and 'refund policies'. There are some minor errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'cause fraud with clients' (should be 'defraud customers') and 'leak of banking information' (should be 'data breaches' or 'security leaks'). You also have some spelling errors, such as 'offine' and 'Morover'. While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, it lacks the precision and sophistication required for a higher band score. Expanding your use of topic-specific collocations would be beneficial.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While your meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally distract the reader. Examples include 'despite of having' (should be 'despite having'), 'someone... who have' (should be 'who has'), and 'risks involve' (should be 'risks involved'). Additionally, there are some issues with article usage and pluralization, such as 'on internet' (should be 'on the internet'). While these errors do not impede communication, they indicate a need for more careful proofreading and a better grasp of complex grammatical structures to reach a higher band.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.