Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-05

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)

In many countries, there is a debate about whether government should spent a large amount of money of building new railway lines from one to another city or improve existing public transport. While high speed trains can provide faster connection between cities. I belive that improving current transport system shoud be priotize.

On the one hand, constructing high speed railway line can bring several benfits. Firstly, fast trains can significantly reduce the time for travelling between major cities, making journey more convenient for pasengers. For example, people who normally spend several hours travelling by road could reach early by high speed trains. Secondly, these trains can reduce the number of people use private cars and domestic flights, as a result, carbon emission produce by these vehicle could automaticially decreasing which is advntageous of humans.

On the other hand, improving existing trasport is often a more practical use of government money. In many counties, buses, trains and metro system are overcrowded, unreliable and poorly mentained. spending money on increasing the number of buses, upgrading railway stations and improving existing service could directly benefit a much larger number of people. Furthermore, better public transport could encourages citzens to leave their vehicle at home, which can reduce the congestion in urban areas. For developing countries, this option may also be more affordable then constructing high speed railway lines.

In conclusio, although high speed could reduce the amount of travelling time. but i believe that govenent should focus on renovating existing public transport because it can provide immediate benefit for a much larger population.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your response successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views—constructing high-speed railway lines and improving existing public transport—and you clearly state your own opinion in the introduction and conclusion. Your main ideas are generally relevant, covering travel time reduction and passenger convenience for high-speed trains, alongside urban congestion and affordability for existing transport. However, some ideas show the characteristics of the mid-band descriptor where they are somewhat under-developed. For instance, the point regarding developing countries and affordability is introduced briefly without much extension. To move further up towards higher bands, you would need to fully develop every single supporting idea with deeper explanation and richer, more fully realized examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

Your essay demonstrates a clear logical organization and progression throughout. You make effective use of paragraphing, dedicating distinct paragraphs to the introduction, the first view, the second view, and the conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed reasonably well to guide the reader, using standard markers such as 'On the one hand', 'Secondly', and 'On the other hand'. While referencing and transitions are generally clear, cohesion occasionally feels a bit mechanical rather than entirely seamless. To achieve higher bands, you could work on more flexible and subtle integration of cohesive devices without relying as heavily on standard formulaic transition phrases, ensuring that the logical flow between sentences and paragraphs feels completely natural and unobtrusive.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You display an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating your arguments regarding public transport and high-speed rail. You attempt some less common vocabulary items, such as 'carbon emission' and 'urban areas'. However, there are notable spelling errors and word choice inaccuracies throughout the text, including 'spent' instead of 'spend', 'priotize' instead of 'prioritize', 'benfits' instead of 'benefits', 'pasengers', 'mentained', 'trasport', 'citzens', and 'govenent'. Furthermore, awkward collocations like 'carbon emission produce by these vehicle could automaticially decreasing' reveal limitations in word form control. These errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict your score. To reach a higher band, you must improve your spelling accuracy and demonstrate a more precise control of less common lexical items and collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing structures such as subordinate clauses beginning with 'While' and 'because'. There are several grammatically correct sentences, but your writing also contains frequent errors in grammar and punctuation. Examples include verb form errors like 'shoud be priotize', missing articles such as 'improve existing transport system', prepositional errors like 'money of building', and punctuation and structural issues such as starting a sentence with a conjunction followed by a comma in the conclusion ('In conclusio, although high speed could reduce the amount of travelling time. but i...'). These errors show that while you attempt complex sentences, they are often faulty. To improve, you need to exercise better control over basic agreement, verb patterns, and punctuation so that your complex sentences remain error-free more consistently.

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

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