Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-22

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)

Some people argue that large number of money should be invested in buliding fast trains line while other argue that spendings should be on the existing public transport rather than adding new infrastructure. The essay will discuss both the views before giving personal opinion.

Spending on building new railway track for fast train is a convinenet and easy way of travelling for long hour journey. There should be more train services available in big cities for the commute, however it took bit long to produce new railway tracks in already builted city infrastructure. Many of the housing of people will also be affected by constructing new railway lines. For example, the notice by government was sent to my grandfather house for destruction because the area was needed in connecting railway route of a train demolishing housing of many.

Money should be spend on already existing public transport is going to improve the traffic congestion problem prevelant in many big cities. If the transport of a city is excellent, it will take less time for people to commute by road. Road situation should be improved for smooth flow of the traffic. For example, Japan have excellent and managed public tranport system, so people don't even mind taking long routes by road because they know their journry will be smooth and obstacle free.

In conclusion, building new railway tracks for fast train is a convenient and fastest way of commute however I believe managing and improving already exsiting transport is important for smooth and convinient everday transport usage.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views—building new railway lines for fast trains and improving existing public transport—and provides a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. Ideas are relevant, such as discussing convenience, commuting time, and urban infrastructure issues. However, some arguments are under-developed or supported with somewhat simplistic personal anecdotes, such as the mention of the grandfather's house, rather than broader societal examples. The position is maintained throughout the essay. This performance aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors, as all parts of the task are addressed, but the depth of idea extension and support could be stronger.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing each viewpoint, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different arguments. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty, seen in awkward transitions like 'Money should be spend on already existing public transport is going to improve...' where grammatical links fail to smoothly connect clauses. Referencing and logical progression are occasionally hindered by awkward phrasing, placing this text firmly at a Band 6 level where information is generally coherent overall, but cohesive devices are sometimes inaccurate or mechanical.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate their ideas about transport and infrastructure. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'infrastructure', 'congestion', and 'prevalent', but these are accompanied by noticeable word-choice and spelling errors, such as 'buliding', 'convinenet', 'spendings', 'builted', and 'exsiting'. Word formation and collocation errors are frequent enough to restrict the score to Band 5.0, as the lexical range is minimally adequate and errors occasionally cause some difficulty for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional structures ('If the transport of a city is excellent, it will take less time...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('Japan have excellent'), incorrect verb forms ('took bit long', 'is going to improve' used awkwardly), and awkward relative clauses. While communication is not severely impeded, the high frequency of errors in basic and complex structures prevents the essay from reaching a Band 6, placing it at a Band 5.0 where frequent errors persist.

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

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