Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-06

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)

Economic growth directly depends on the quality of infrastructure the country provides to it's resident. Two major componenets of it are railway lines for trains and public transport. There remain a debated discussion on allocating the resources on either component in order to maximize the growth of nation.

Proponents arguing for railway lines believe that, it serves as a connecting bridge between parts of countries. It alleviates the problem for congestions and time delays for transportaion of both goods and people travelling longer distances. Railway lines has played an evolutionary part for human civilization in industrial age and continues to serve the purpose in modern age as well.

People advocating for improvement of existing infrastructure asserts the point that the growing urban population leads to many day to day life problems for individual citizen in terms of intra transportation mainly. To overcome this they suggest improving the existing public transport systems and infrastructures help mitigate these problems namely traffic congestions, road accidents and overall safety of the people.

I personally believe that railway connectivity indeed play a crucial role in a nation's developement as well for ameliorating people's travel but it stays second priority as compared to that of improving public transport. A good public transport serves more benefits in daily life of individual as well for the environment. The number of people opting for public transport naturally increase with improvement of public transport.

In conclusion, it can be stated that finding the right balance between both components is crucial for achieving optimal growth of nation and ease of daily life for it's citizen.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on whether to spend money on high-speed rail lines or improving existing public transport, and it includes a clear personal opinion. However, some ideas are under-developed. For instance, the paragraph discussing the benefits of railway lines mentions that it 'serves as a connecting bridge' and 'alleviates the problem for congestions,' but these points are not sufficiently extended with specific examples or deep analysis. Similarly, the conclusion touches upon balancing both components, but the reasoning throughout remains somewhat generalized. To move to a higher level, the writer needs to provide more fully developed explanations and concrete examples to support the main arguments.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph-by-paragraph structure. Each paragraph has a discernible focus, moving from an introduction to arguments for rail, arguments for local public transport, the writer's personal opinion, and a conclusion. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty. For example, transitional phrases and referencing are occasionally awkward, such as starting the second paragraph with 'Proponents arguing for railway lines believe that, it serves...' where the comma disrupts the flow. Additionally, the progression between ideas could be smoother. To achieve a higher band, the writer should employ a wider range of cohesive devices more flexibly and ensure that referencing links between sentences are seamless.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common lexical items such as 'alleviates', 'ameliorating', and 'optimal growth'. However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and word forms. Examples include 'componenets' (spelling error), 'a debated discussion' (unnatural collocation), 'problem for congestions' (incorrect preposition usage), and 'developement' (spelling). Words like 'transportaion' also contain spelling slips. The vocabulary is minimally sufficient to convey meaning, but to reach the next band, the writer must demonstrate greater precision in word choice and collocation while eliminating basic spelling and morphological errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt at varied syntactic structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors in subject-verb agreement and articles. Examples include 'the quality of infrastructure the country provides to it's resident' (should be 'its residents'), 'Railway lines has played' (should be 'have played'), and 'ease of daily life for it's citizen' (should be 'its citizens'). Furthermore, errors like 'intra transportation' and prepositional mistakes within grammatical patterns persist. While these errors rarely impede overall communication, they prevent the writing from achieving a higher level of grammatical control. To improve, the writer needs to increase the proportion of error-free sentences and carefully proofread for basic agreement and possessive forms.

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