Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-24

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 4.5)

In many countries, some people think it is necessary to spend large sums of money on constructing new railway lines for very fast trains between cities. while on the othebhand some people believe that the money should be spent on improving existing public transport because it save financial bursen on government

firstly i would like to say government should invest in existing transport as well if have large economy its better to construct new railway lines for fast transport because it saves time of citizen helping them disciplined in traveling it will be more convenient and chances of accident will be minimize for example everything will be at what time the bus or tram will come so crossing road attach with new lines may closed for general population

secondly new lines and fast transportation helps in saving cost we can travel more in less time people will not need to migrate from rural areas to urban as it also save cost of living for example some one belongs to Small village and he has job in big city he can travel same day

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response4.0
Coherence and Cohesion3.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy4.5
Overall4.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

You address the topic by expressing support for improving existing transport and also giving reasons to build fast railway lines, such as saving travel time and helping people commute from villages to cities. However, the discussion is very brief and does not clearly explain the benefits of improving existing services, so the two views are not balanced or fully developed. Your own position is also difficult to identify: the opening favours existing transport, while the later points mainly support new lines. The response contains 149 words, which is 101 words below the 250-word minimum; 34 words copied from the task prompt were excluded. Develop each side with a clear explanation and a relevant example, then state your opinion consistently in a conclusion.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 3.5

There is a basic attempt to organise the response, with an opening followed by points introduced by “firstly” and “secondly.” This gives the reader some sense of sequence. However, the ideas do not form a clear progression: the first body section shifts between existing transport and new railway lines, and the second continues to support fast transport without connecting clearly to the earlier position. The response also ends without a conclusion. Some links, such as “for example,” introduce examples, but the relationships between claims are often unclear. Use separate paragraphs for the two views, connect each reason to its explanation, and finish by summarising your position.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some topic-related vocabulary, including “railway lines,” “public transport,” “convenient,” “migrate,” and “cost of living,” which helps communicate the general subject. The range is nevertheless limited, and several inaccurate or unclear expressions make the reader work to understand your meaning. For instance, “save financial bursen on government” and “helping them disciplined in traveling” do not express the intended ideas naturally, while “chances of accident will be minimize” is an awkward phrase. Spelling and word-form errors are also noticeable. Build a more precise set of transport-related collocations and check spelling and word forms; for example, describe reducing the government’s financial burden or lowering the risk of accidents.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

The response attempts to express reasons and examples, including a conditional idea in “if have large economy,” but most sentences rely on simple structures or become difficult to follow when several ideas are joined. Errors in sentence boundaries, verb forms, agreement, and articles occur frequently. For example, “it save financial bursen” needs a subject–verb agreement correction, and “chances of accident will be minimize” has problems with number and passive verb form. The opening also runs into the next clause without appropriate sentence punctuation. Practise writing complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, and use a small range of controlled complex forms, such as “If a country can afford it, it could…”

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