Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-09

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In a number of countries, some people think it is necessary to spend large sums of money on constructing new railway lines for very fast trains between cities. Others believe the money should be spent on improving existing public transport.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

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

 

Student answer (Band 5.5)

In some countries, people believe that spending lucrative money to constuct the new railway path ways for better transportation from one city to another to and promoting fast transportation services. While other think these money should be used to improvising existing public transportation services. In my opinion it depends on the places where this development really needs.

Railway transportation has been believed to be the fastest and cheapest form of transportation for a long time. In some countries there are many cities which is really crowded and their current public transportation is not sufficient to handle this situation. these kinds of cities or places have needs to be developed by providing faster and newer railway pathways as alternative to current one. For example, Ahmedabad, a district in Gujarat, India, is busier than it was in the past. As a result, the government needs to make the metro railway lines throughout the city.

Which is obviuously help full to people who are living there.

if talking about people who denied the idea of new railway lines and using those money to improve the current transportation. they are right to their place as new transportation comes with high paying than they were used to. At some place due to new railway lines the government can take the properties from because of their construction paths.

In my view, the government should make the new transportation services where it is really needs suppose as we talked about the over populated places. For small towns leave them as it is with little development which is really needs and use existing transportation. The new railway lines which are constructed by the governement on local people houses they should re-pay the compensation to the land owners.

In conclusion, the problem is not about transportation, it is about where it really needs or not. The new transportation obviously foster the development of those places by saving lots of time of their people. At the end the places which are less populated they need to improve thier current service of transportation.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a clear personal opinion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. While you mention the need for high-speed rail in crowded cities like Ahmedabad, the explanation of why existing public transport should be prioritized is less developed, relying on general statements about cost and property displacement. To reach a higher band, you should provide more specific, nuanced arguments for both perspectives. The conclusion is a bit repetitive and does not fully synthesize the points made. Ensure that your position is consistently supported throughout the essay rather than just in the introduction and conclusion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or inaccurate. For example, starting sentences with 'Which is obviuously help full' or 'if talking about' creates a fragmented flow. There is a lack of sophisticated linking words to connect ideas between and within paragraphs. Referencing is sometimes unclear, such as in the third paragraph where the connection between the argument and the examples is weak. Improving the variety and accuracy of transition signals would significantly enhance the logical progression of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. There are several instances of awkward word choices, such as 'lucrative money' (instead of 'substantial funds'), 'path ways' (instead of 'lines' or 'infrastructure'), and 'improvising' (instead of 'improving'). Some phrases are repetitive, and there is a lack of less common lexical items that would demonstrate a higher level of proficiency. Spelling errors, such as 'constuct', 'obviuously', and 'governement', also occur. To improve, focus on learning collocations and using more academic terminology appropriate for an essay on infrastructure and urban planning.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede readability. Issues include subject-verb agreement ('there are many cities which is really crowded'), incorrect verb forms ('these money should be used'), and punctuation errors, such as starting sentences with lowercase letters or using fragments. The sentence structure is often disjointed, which affects the overall clarity. To achieve a higher score, you need to demonstrate better control over complex sentence forms and reduce the frequency of basic grammatical slips, particularly regarding articles, pluralization, and sentence boundaries.

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.