Samples / Task 2 essay / Opinion (agree or disagree) / Band 7

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Taxes on Sugar and Fat

An IELTS Academic Task 2 essay examining the impact of food taxes on public health, written at a Band 7 level with typical candidate errors.

The question

Some governments have introduced a tax on foods that are high in sugar and fat in order to improve public health. To what extent do you think this is an effective measure?

In recent years, several governments have introduced a tax on foods that contain high levels of sugar and fat. This measure aims to reduce the consumption of these products and improve public health. In my opinion, while taxing these products is a step in the right direction, it is only partially effective and must be combined with other strategies to achieve significant results. On the one hand, a tax can discourage people from buying unhealthy food. When the price of sugary drinks and fatty snacks increases, consumers, especially teenagers and low-income families, are likely to think twice before purchasing them. For example, many researches show that after implementing a soda tax, the sales of these drinks dropped significantly. Furthermore, this policy forces food manufacturers to reformulate their recipes to avoid the tax, which leads to healthier options on supermarket shelves. Therefore, taxing these products encourage people to make better dietary choices. On the other hand, a tax alone cannot solve the complex problem of obesity and related illnesses. First of all, this policy has a great influence in poor people's budgets, as they spend a larger percentage of their income on food. Since healthy options like fresh fruits and vegetables are often expensive, some families might still buy cheap unhealthy food despite the tax, or they might cut down on other necessities. Additionally, sugar addiction is very strong, and a small price increase may not stop people from buying their favorite snacks. Thus, the tax can be seen as unfair if governments do not subsidize healthy alternatives so that people can buy healthy food more easy. In conclusion, introducing a tax on unhealthy foods high in sugar and fat is a useful tool to guide public behavior, but it has limitations. To truly improve public health, governments should use the money collected from this tax to educate the public and make healthy food more affordable.

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This answer was written by a language model to a real exam question, then scored by Bandly against the four public band descriptors. The band is a software estimate. No examiner has marked it, and the band a real examiner would award may differ. Scored with google/gemini-3.5-flash on 2026-09-08.

Estimated overall

Mean of the four criteria, rounded the way the exam rounds it.

Task Response 8

You are at Band 8 for Task Response because you clearly answer the extent question and give a well‑developed, balanced position, but the discussion of effectiveness is not fully extended into long‑term or wider public‑health impacts.

Coherence and Cohesion 7

Your response demonstrates clear progression of ideas and appropriate use of cohesive devices, but some referencing could be clearer to achieve a higher band.

Lexical Resource 6

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, but there are some inaccuracies in word choice and word formation that prevent a higher score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy 7

You use a variety of complex structures and produce frequent error-free sentences, but a few errors in grammar and punctuation prevent a higher score.

What would take this higher

To improve your Lexical Resource score to a band 7, you need to eliminate word formation and collocation errors. Specifically, you should correct uncountable noun errors like "many researches" to "many studies" and ensure proper adverb formation as in changing "more easy" to "more easily." Paying closer attention to prepositional collocations, such as changing "influence in" to "influence on," will also help elevate your vocabulary control.

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