Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-09

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 6.0)

In recent times, an increasing amount of people travel to popular places to take pictures and make memories without doing proper research to familiarize themselves with the location. I personally think this is a negative trend because it could be a waste of time and resources if expectations about the place are not met.

Firstly, more and more people visit popular places to take photos of themselves to feel among. For instance, when a new cafe opens, the opening day is usually filled with celebrities who go on social media to make the public aware of the opening. This has a great effect on the present generation due to consumerism and the belief that going to that same cafe also makes them some kind of celebrity. It is called the celebrity effect of wanting to prove that you are better than other people or as people in West Africa say it "living life".

Personally, i think it has it pros and cons and i am leaning toward the negative side more. The effect of this on the society is countless. People tend to forget that celebrities get paid to make posts on the internet and more often than not, the tend to say things that are not completely true because it is their job. Due to this, the "wannabe" celebrities go to the locations and are disappointed by the scenery and treatment from member of staff. For example, studies have shown the chances of an organisation being publisized wrongly on the internet by a celebrity is very low because they do their jobs, get paid and move on to the next. It is those who go there and expect to see exactly what they saw on instagram that always come online to make them look bad.

Ultimately, going to visit a well-known place to take pictures without proper research could lead to waste of time and resources.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, identifying reasons for the trend and expressing a clear negative stance. However, the development of ideas is somewhat uneven. The explanation of the 'celebrity effect' is relevant, but the argument regarding 'proper research' is slightly tangential to the core issue of people prioritizing photography over experiencing the location. The discussion on social media influencers is well-intentioned but could be more tightly linked to the prompt's focus on the act of taking photos rather than just the disappointment of visiting a location. To reach a higher band, ensure that every point directly supports the central argument about the behavior of tourists at these sites.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'For instance', and 'Ultimately' are used to guide the reader. However, the transition between the introduction and the body paragraphs is slightly abrupt. Additionally, some referencing is a bit mechanical, and the flow within the third paragraph could be improved by better linking the concept of 'wannabe celebrities' to the broader trend of superficial tourism. Overall, the paragraphing is appropriate, and the logical structure is sufficient to follow the writer's argument.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, with some attempts at more sophisticated phrasing like 'consumerism' and 'scenery'. However, there are instances of imprecise word choice and informal phrasing, such as 'feel among' and 'make them look bad'. The repetition of 'celebrity' and 'place' limits the range. To improve, focus on using more precise collocations and a wider variety of synonyms to describe the phenomenon of social media-driven tourism. The errors in word choice do not impede communication, but they do prevent the response from reaching a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'an increasing amount of people' (should be 'number'), 'the tend to say' (missing subject), and 'member of staff' (should be plural). Punctuation is generally functional, though there are minor issues with capitalization, such as the lowercase 'i' in 'i think'. While the meaning is always clear, the frequency of these small errors suggests a need for more careful proofreading and a greater focus on subject-verb agreement and pluralization.

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