Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-03

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 6.0)

While one school of thought believes that countries should spend large number of money in developing new railway lines for fast trains to commute between cities on the flip side, the other school of thought believes money should be invested to improve the existing public transport. I agree with the former.

Trains have been a crucial mode of transport since the 17th century. They have the capacity to load thousands of passengers. With the boom in the number of people commuting through road through busses cabs and personal cars it is essential for countries to divert a significant number of crowd to another medium of transport. Developing fast trains can improve the trade and accessibility between to cities saving time energy and can help divert the crowd on the road.

While there are multiple advantages of investing in a new railway line for fast trains over spending on existing public transport there a couple of disadvatanges as well. One of the biggest disadvantage is if the existing modes of transport are not well equipped the crowd travelling through trains would be diverted to the road when the railway lines are under development leading to an overall chaos on the roads. If these roads are not suitable to create this capacity the traffic could be unamanageable. Emergency vehicles like ambulances travelling for an emergency patient could get stuck.International guests could have a poor reflection of the country while commuting giving them a bad experience and representation of the basic facilties that include the road.

To recapitulate, while i believe that spending on railway lines for fast trains is essential, it is also important to maintain the basic existing public transport.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views—building high-speed railway lines and improving existing public transport—and provides a clear personal opinion in favour of the former. However, the development of ideas is uneven. While the second paragraph introduces the benefits of high-speed rail for trade and accessibility, the reasoning remains somewhat general. Similarly, the counterargument concerning the disruption caused during construction is mentioned but not fully extended with concrete examples. This places the response comfortably at the targeted level, where relevant ideas are presented, but some are left under-developed. To reach a higher band, the student should ensure that every main idea is supported with deeper explanations and specific, fully realised examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear stance established in the introduction and a summary provided in the conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct stages of the argument, such as the benefits of fast trains, the disadvantages of construction, and the final verdict. Cohesive devices are employed adequately, including transitional phrases like 'While one school of thought' and 'To recapitulate'. However, cohesion occasionally feels mechanical, and referencing between sentences is not always seamless, particularly in the third paragraph where the transition from construction chaos to emergency vehicles and international visitors feels slightly abrupt. The half-band achievement reflects a clear structure and logical progression overall, though greater flexibility in managing cohesive ties is needed to achieve a fully seamless flow throughout the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'accessibility', 'commute', and 'recapitulate'. However, there are noticeable limitations and inaccuracies in word choice and phrasing, such as writing 'large number of money' instead of 'large sums of money', and 'to cities' instead of 'two cities'. Additionally, spelling and word-form errors occur, such as 'disadvatanges' and 'unamanageable'. These lexical slips and awkward collocations do not impede communication, allowing the reader to follow the argument, but they restrict the score to the current level. To achieve a higher band, the student needs to expand their range of less common vocabulary and pay closer attention to precise word choice, collocations, and correct spelling.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting multi-clause structures such as conditional sentences ('If these roads are not suitable...') and concessive clauses ('While one school of thought believes...'). There are, however, several grammatical and punctuation errors present throughout the text, including missing commas in complex introductory structures and occasional prepositional inaccuracies, such as 'commuting through road through busses cabs'. Despite these errors, meaning is rarely obscured and communication remains clear. The grammatical control fits the current band descriptor, featuring a combination of correct structures alongside recurrent errors. To progress, the student should focus on refining complex sentence construction and ensuring greater accuracy in punctuation and syntactic agreements.

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