Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-12
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)
These days, online shopping stores are developing rapidly and some people argues that with this fast growth of technology will might become a reason for market in cities. I disagree with this debate. In this essay I will discuss in details with an examples
First of all, nothing can replace feeling of purchasing products from shops and market while physically presant at the moment. Shopping from the market provides opportunity to see items or products to observe with your own hand. Which gives a clear idea to the customers about the product rather than placing order by looking from the image. For example, many customers mentioned that buying clothes from in-person shope has various advantages like you can feel the texture and material of the clothes and gives chance to trial that on before purchasing.
However, since last decade trend of onling shopping has increased significantly. Because with one click we can surf through tons of products without going physically in stores. But many people has complained about receving faulty products or wrong size of the items and for replacement of order they need to submit many forms and need to curiour product to its warehouse and this all process is stressful and at the end people tend to buy product in-person.
To sum up with, although online shopping stores provides comfort but nothing can outweigh the feeling of shopping from in-person stores as it is treditional way to buy things. Additionally, purchasing items offline has more advantages than from online shopping.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses the prompt by clearly stating a position of disagreement with the statement that all physical shops will close due to online shopping. The writer introduces relevant ideas such as the sensory experience of physical shopping and the inconvenience of returns for online purchases. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For instance, the discussion on physical presence and touching items is reiterated without much extension into broader economic or social impacts. The conclusion is brief and lacks depth. Nevertheless, all parts of the task are addressed, and a clear stance is maintained throughout. This performance aligns best with the Band 5.5 to 6 range, leaning slightly towards Band 6 because the core argument is clear and relevant throughout the essay, despite lacking deeper elaboration.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The essay has a recognizable overall structure, including an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is attempted, with distinct sections for different arguments. However, the logical progression is frequently disrupted by awkward transitions and mechanical phrasing, such as 'First of all,' and 'To sum up with,'. Referencing is sometimes unclear, as seen in sentences where pronouns lack clear antecedents or clauses dangle awkwardly. While the essay remains coherent enough to follow the main line of reasoning, the cohesive devices are often overused or inaccurate, placing this response firmly in the Band 5 category according to the official descriptors.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for communicating basic ideas, but it is heavily restricted and repetitive. The student attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'significantly,' 'convenient,' and 'advantage,' but these attempts are frequently marred by word-choice and collocation errors, such as 'online shopping stores,' 'physically presant,' 'in-person shope,' and 'curiour product.' Spelling errors are noticeable throughout the text ('argues' instead of 'argue', 'presant', 'shope', 'onling', 'receving', 'treditional'). These errors occasionally cause slight strain for the reader, though communication is generally maintained, placing the Lexical Resource score at Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar and punctuation is weak. There are numerous foundational grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('some people argues'), incorrect verb tenses and modals ('will might become'), fragment sentences ('Which gives a clear idea...'), and missing articles. Punctuation is also problematic, with run-on sentences and comma splices, such as 'Because with one click we can surf through tons of products without going physically in stores. But many people has complained...' These frequent errors cause difficulty for the reader and demonstrate limited control over complex structures, corresponding to a Band 5.0 score.
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.