Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-06

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

More and more people nowadays visit well-known places to take photographs of themselves, without looking at the place.

Why do you think this is happening?

Is it a positive or a negative trend?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Nowadays, visiting well-known places has become a common concern in many countries. While traveling to those places, people are more concern about taking picture of themselves rather than exploring the place. They do not take interest in knowing its history and importance. There are many reason behind this trend, such as lack of awareness among people and weak government policies. This essay will discuss the causes and solutions in detail.

The first cause of this trend is lack of insight. Many people do not understand the importance of famous site, which makes the situation worse.

Another reason is weak government policies. When authorities fail to plan properly or do not enforce rules strictly, issues continue to grow. I think it is negative trend. It is unfair behavior to that area and it also reduce the significance of that particular location. Taking pictures of themselves also important in some aspect like it memorize your special moment. It makes you happy when you see these pictures in future.

One solution to minimize this habit is to educate people through schools, media and awareness program. If people are informed about the consequences of their action, they are more likely change their behavior. Another strategy is regulation from leaders. Strict rules from the state are necessary to overcome this type of thinking.

To sum up, in my opinion, it is bad trend that is mainly due to misunderstanding of tourists about the site. However, this can be solved through public education. If citizen cooperate, the situation will improve.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear negative view, and you identify two possible causes: limited understanding of sites and weak government policies. You also acknowledge a benefit of taking photographs, which adds some balance. However, the task asks why people focus on selfies rather than the place; the causes are stated broadly and not clearly connected to this specific behaviour. The discussion of government policies is especially unclear, and the essay shifts into solutions even though solutions were not requested. The conclusion repeats the view but does not develop the reasons. To strengthen the response, explain motivations such as social-media sharing or wanting a personal record, then support your judgement with a specific example and a clearer explanation of the trend’s effects.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion. Sequencing phrases such as “The first cause,” “Another reason,” and “To sum up” help readers follow the main stages. However, progression is weakened by the shift from causes and evaluation to solutions, which takes space away from developing the question. Several ideas are placed together without a clear link: the paragraph moves from government policies to the negative effects, then to the benefits of photographs. The reference to “this trend” and “this type of thinking” is also broad. Group each main point in a focused paragraph and use linking sentences to show how the cause leads to the behaviour and why you judge it negatively.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “well-known places,” “history and importance,” “authorities,” and “consequences.” These choices make the general subject clear. However, some expressions are imprecise or unnatural, such as “common concern” for a common practice, “lack of insight,” and “unfair behavior to that area.” Repetition of general terms such as “trend,” “people,” and “situation” also limits precision. There are word-form and collocation problems, including “taking picture” and “awareness program.” Aim to choose phrases that describe the specific motivation and impact more accurately, and check whether nouns and verbs naturally combine. This would make your ideas clearer and more fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a conditional structure: “If people are informed about the consequences of their action, they are more likely change their behavior.” The overall meaning is usually understandable, but errors in agreement, articles, plurals and verb patterns occur across the response. For example, “people are more concern” needs an adjective form, “There are many reason” has a plural-agreement error, and “it also reduce” has a subject–verb agreement error. In the conditional sentence, “more likely change” needs an infinitive marker. Some sentence patterns are also repetitive. Review these recurring forms and practise combining accurate simple sentences with controlled subordinate clauses.

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