Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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 many countries people consider it important to spend money on constructing new railway lines for fast travel from one place to another and a lot of people believe that to surve money on public transport is essential. Let me discuss both points.

Firstly, a large nummber of people in many countries think that spending money on railway linnes is necessary which is partialy true. If we build new railway tracks, it will be easy to travel all over the country. Government should spend money to construct new railway tracks and also make new trains which travel fastly. For example, Japan made a train which travel very fastly like 300 kilometer per hour. We need to make trains liike this.

Secondly, many peoople think that to spend money on public transport which is quite good. If we make our public transport better, the economy of country will countinue to rise which is very essential for country. Government should spend mmoney to mmake public transport better. For example in Europe every one have to pay a parking tax which is considerably high. So a lot of people travel by public transport that's why their economy is better than other countries. There is need to apply a parking tax to make our public transport successful and rise the economy of our country.

In my opinion government should spend money on constructing new railway lines and to improve public transport equaly. If both things become succesful our country will continue to grow. These things play a vital role in the success of country so government should spend money for both purposes.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views—constructing new high-speed rail lines and improving existing public transport—and provides a clear personal opinion in the conclusion. The ideas are relevant, such as mentioning economic growth and environmental incentives like parking taxes, but they tend to be somewhat repetitive and lack deeper extension. For instance, the example of Japan mentioning 300 kilometers per hour is a good start, but it remains brief. The position is maintained throughout the essay. Because all parts of the task are addressed with a clear stance and supporting examples, the response aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors, as some ideas could be further developed and extended.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure, utilizing logical signposts such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'In my opinion' to guide the reader through the text. However, paragraphing and referencing are sometimes basic or mechanical. For example, the opening paragraph relies heavily on repetitive phrasing ('spend money on...'), and transition sentences between ideas lack smooth flow. Cohesive devices are used, but they are occasionally repetitive or overused. Paragraphing is present with an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion, fulfilling the requirements for a Band 6 score where logical organization is generally clear despite some mechanical elements.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'economy', 'public transport', and 'successful'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'surve' instead of 'save', 'nummber' instead of 'number', 'linnes' instead of 'lines', 'partialy' instead of 'partially', 'fastly' instead of 'quickly', 'liike' instead of 'like', 'peoople' instead of 'people', 'mmoney' instead of 'money', 'mmake' instead of 'make', 'countinue' instead of 'continue', and 'equaly' instead of 'equally'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, their frequency prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. The vocabulary is minimally adequate for conveying the intended message.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, such as conditional structures ('If we build new railway tracks, it will be easy...'). However, there are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors, including missing articles ('economy of country', 'success of country'), incorrect verb forms ('Japan made a train which travel very fastly'), and punctuation issues (comma splices and run-on phrasing). Errors in spelling also spill over into the perception of grammatical control. Although the meaning remains understandable, the density of errors keeps the performance at a Band 5 level, where frequent non-systematic errors persist and complex structures often contain flaws.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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