Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-03
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)
In this contemporary era, taking pictures at famous locations have been increasing day by day neglecting the place itself by many tourists.
It is obvious that due to the technological advancement people are becoming more trendy on social media: Facebook, Instagram & Twitter etc. These platforms give them name and fame in their group if they post stunning photographs of themselves every time they visit new well-know places .Furthermore, today's youth follows such social platforms in order to get famous and become celebrity on social medias which eventually leads them to go different places, without knowing the place. For an instance, one college group of adult went to the horror place after watching a Youtube video about that place and clicked pictures at the place just for the fun and one of their friends got lost during that event.
I personally believe that taking pictures of yourself is a positive trend if someone loves to create and collect the memories. However, sometime it leads to a negative outcomes if not taken seriously. For example, pictures could become potential evidence in any crime scene which is beneficial to catch the culprit. On the other side it is very dangerous because sometimes people try to take pictures at risky locations like peak of the mountain, in the oceans etc. to get famous which is not evitable. All in all, every grass has weed
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses both parts of the prompt, identifying reasons for the trend and providing an opinion on whether it is positive or negative. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. The example regarding the 'horror place' is not clearly linked to the prompt's focus on taking photographs of oneself, and the discussion on the positive/negative aspects lacks depth. Furthermore, the response is under the 250-word minimum, which significantly impacts the ability to fully develop the argument. The conclusion is also abrupt and uses an idiom that does not fit the context well.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organised into paragraphs, but the logical progression is weak. While some cohesive devices are used, such as 'Furthermore' and 'However', they are sometimes used mechanically or inappropriately. The transition between the reasons for the trend and the evaluation of the trend is abrupt. The referencing is occasionally unclear, and the overall structure lacks the sophisticated flow required for a higher band. Paragraphing is present but the ideas within the paragraphs are not always tightly connected.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks range and precision. There are several instances of awkward phrasing, such as 'becoming more trendy on social media' and 'every grass has weed'. The student relies on basic vocabulary and struggles with collocations, for example, 'go different places' instead of 'visit different places'. While the meaning is generally clear, the lack of variety and the presence of errors in word choice limit the score in this criterion.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('taking pictures... have been increasing'), missing articles ('at peak of the mountain'), and awkward phrasing ('one college group of adult'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with the use of '&' and the placement of commas. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to demonstrate a lack of control over complex structures.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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