Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-07

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 4.5)

Intro:

This topic have about two travel transport and which is fast and where spend money to fast reached to over place.

Details:

We started now over railway transport is better if have railways tracks is good and rented is small money spend to reached over place be carefully.

If we travel between two cities then we reached easy and comfortable and taking time less compare to other transports,

2nd detail:

We discuss now public transport is taking to much money and not reached on time, public transport driving is not good and not driving be careful.

If also spent money public transport and make good then travel to easy and comfortable.

Overall discuss:

My opnion is railways is good to travel is have fixed time to travel and one city other travel easy and good.and is have fixed money spend to travel and reached over city time to time.if you not reached on over time so you skip your train.

Public transport also good is have many issue is not care over envoriment and is to much taking money and not reached on time.If you late ten is waiting your.

I think spend on money over railways amke good and your travel is to good and comfortable and also benefit publics and over goverments mostly people travel to train and is seats and travling histroy making good and railway tracks to going to other cities and station also make good.Public transport is also good if have good vahicals and drivind carefull

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.0
Lexical Resource4.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy4.0
Overall4.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a personal opinion, which satisfies the basic requirements of the prompt. However, the development of ideas is very limited. The arguments regarding high-speed rail and public transport are repetitive and lack specific examples or logical depth. The points made, such as 'public transport is taking to much money', are vague and do not explore the economic or social implications required for an Academic Task 2 essay. The position is clear, but the lack of supporting evidence and the simplistic nature of the arguments prevent a higher score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay lacks a clear structure. While there is an attempt to divide the text into sections, the transitions between ideas are abrupt and often confusing. There is a lack of cohesive devices to link sentences and paragraphs logically. For example, the shift from discussing railways to public transport is disjointed. The use of referencing is weak, making it difficult for the reader to follow the progression of the argument. Paragraphing is not used effectively to separate the different views, resulting in a text that feels like a series of disconnected statements rather than a cohesive essay.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.5

The vocabulary is very basic and repetitive. The student relies on a limited set of words, such as 'good', 'travel', 'money', and 'reached', which are used repeatedly throughout the text. There are frequent errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'rented is small money spend' and 'not care over envoriment'. These errors occasionally impede communication, as the intended meaning is sometimes obscured by the non-standard phrasing. There is no attempt to use less common or more sophisticated vocabulary that would be expected for an academic discussion.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The grammatical range is extremely limited, consisting mostly of simple, error-prone sentences. There are frequent errors in subject-verb agreement ('This topic have'), tense usage ('We started now'), and sentence structure. Many sentences are fragmented or lack proper punctuation, making the text difficult to read. There is no evidence of complex sentence structures, and the high frequency of basic grammatical errors significantly impacts the clarity of the message. The persistent nature of these errors indicates a lack of control over basic English grammar.

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.