Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-06
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 5.5)
Growing trend of online shopping might lead to the closure of shops in towns and cities.
In my opinion I completely agree with the aforementioned statement. As being a consumer myself I tend to shop more online rather than visiting the local stores in person.
To begin with it is the growing generation of the evolving world who is completely relied over the online platform for everything linked to them even if it's shopping for themselves as it has become more convenient now a days. Shopping online saves ones time, energy and the travel costs all together. People like to explore buying stuffs online as it preserve their privacy the reason why I'm saying this is for instance a person visits a store where he has no specific choice or something planned that he or she needs to purchase still the salesperson will intervene without asking for any help and shall try to manipulate the consumer or they will try to upsell the customer to achieve their associated sales target. Even if you deny the Salesperson it doesn't ends there you still have to overpass the ones at the billing counter where they will pressurize you to get the free item at a small cost.
In addition, to overcome all this problems new generation has set their prioritizes straight and has chosen online shopping platform as their solution to all issues. One more benefit which you get if you purchase online is you could simply return the product for what so reason with no questions asked from your home you don't need to go anywhere. However, even after having a plenty of advantages the millennials followed the boomer generation hasn't been able to process this change in their lifestyle as they fear they will get scammed or not getting the best quality which they might easily access in the shops.
To conclude I really don't want to witness the day when the shops in market might have to shut their business down as the declining rate in the sales and profits because people are getting addicted to online shopping.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position. However, the development of ideas is somewhat uneven. The argument focuses heavily on the negative aspects of in-store shopping (salesperson pressure) rather than a balanced analysis of why online shopping might lead to the total closure of all physical shops. The conclusion is slightly contradictory, as you express a desire for shops to remain open while simultaneously arguing that they are becoming obsolete. To reach a higher band, ensure your supporting points directly address the 'all shops closing' aspect with more depth and logical consistency.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into paragraphs, but the flow between ideas is sometimes mechanical. Phrases like 'To begin with' and 'In addition' are used, but the internal logic within paragraphs is occasionally disjointed. For example, the transition from discussing the 'new generation' to the 'millennials followed the boomer generation' is abrupt and confusing. Referencing is sometimes unclear, such as the use of 'the ones' when referring to staff at the billing counter. Improving the use of cohesive devices to link sentences more fluidly would enhance the overall progression of your argument.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'aforementioned', 'manipulate', and 'prioritizes'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'relied over' (relied on), 'buying stuffs' (buying stuff/items), and 'for what so reason' (for whatever reason). These errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the precision of your writing. To improve, focus on learning common collocations and ensuring that your word choices are natural and grammatically appropriate for the context.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout. Issues include subject-verb agreement ('generation... who is completely relied'), incorrect preposition usage, and punctuation errors, such as missing commas in complex sentences. There are also tense inconsistencies and awkward phrasing like 'the millennials followed the boomer generation hasn't been able to process'. While the meaning remains clear, the frequency of these errors prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. Focus on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and sentence boundary errors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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