Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-21

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 6.5)

A trend recently has been noticed that most of the individuals who visit the popular places prefer to take their pictures at those sites, instead of exploring the area. In my opinion, this is due to the increasing influence of social media in our lives. From my perspective, this tendency has severe negative impacts on people's lives, such as being unable to know the history or related events to that specific area, taking no pleasure from natural landscapes, and over-sharing personal life events.

First of all, this phenomenon has a significant drawback that tourists would be unable to know the historical events related to those communities. One reason to go to a famous ancient place is to recognize the local community, their culture, and their way of living. For example, the Chillas community has their own distinct cultural background and religious festivals. Therefore, one can deprive themselves by not exploring the local area.

Secondly, by taking their photograph, one can deprive themselves of the pleasure of natural beauty. Moreover, many people in Pakistan visit the northern areas, because of the heavenly, eye-catching countryside.

However, individuals now take less interest in hiking and examining the surroundings.

Last but not the least, this perspective under the influence of modern globalisation has led to over-sharing every event of their life. This is because of the new social apps, like TikTok, which have easy accessibility and usage. In addition to this, everyone wants to have more viewers to get recognised as a social media influencer. This trend has more negative influence on teenagers, because they are not mature enough to know the outcomes.

In conclusion, this increasing trend of not exploring the place, but taking one's own picture has a negative impact. It can cause serious personal relationship problems in the long run. Nevertheless, responsible use of social media can prevent this.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the reasons for the trend and the evaluation of whether it is positive or negative. The position is clear from the introduction. Ideas are relevant, such as the influence of social media and the loss of cultural appreciation. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat uneven. For instance, the example of the 'Chillas community' is mentioned but not fully linked back to the core argument about why people stop exploring. The conclusion introduces a new point about 'personal relationship problems' which was not previously discussed, making it feel slightly disconnected from the body paragraphs. Overall, the task is addressed, but the depth of analysis could be improved.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'First of all', 'Secondly', and 'In addition to this' are used to guide the reader. However, the transition between ideas is sometimes mechanical. The paragraphing is appropriate, though the final paragraph introduces a new, unsupported idea rather than summarizing the main points. Referencing is generally clear, but some sentences feel slightly disjointed due to the way examples are introduced. The progression of ideas is logical, but the flow could be smoother with more sophisticated linking phrases.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning. There is an attempt to use less common items such as 'phenomenon', 'globalisation', and 'accessibility'. However, there are some minor issues with collocation and word choice, such as 'deprive themselves by not exploring' (which is slightly awkward) and 'this perspective under the influence' (where 'perspective' is not the most accurate word for the trend described). The range is adequate for the task, but it lacks the precision and flexibility required for a higher band score. The spelling is accurate throughout.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There is good control over basic grammar, and errors are infrequent enough that they do not impede communication. Examples of complex structures include 'most of the individuals who visit... prefer to take their pictures' and 'This is because of the new social apps... which have easy accessibility'. There are occasional minor errors, such as 'A trend recently has been noticed' (passive voice usage) and 'taking their photograph' (should be plural 'photographs'). Overall, the grammatical control is solid, with a variety of structures that demonstrate a good level of competence.

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