Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-25

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 the recent era, Individuals are visiting tourist places without knowing about those places' history for the sake of beautiful photographs of their loved ones and themselves as well. I believe this is a negative development, and I will discuss the reasons behind it in the following essay in more detail.

To start with, there are too many aspects behind this development. The first and foremost is a waste of money and time. To be more precise, People spend money on non-useful places, which leads them towards the waste of resources. This could be the reason behind unwanted expense and they would not get any benefits from this. Thus, stay at home and spend time with family rather than going on vacation without knowing about the destination.

In addition, the second reason behind this scenario is show-off. Nowadays, people just want to show their life to people on social media such as Instagram and Facebook. This is not only harmful to their wealth but also detrimental to their family and friends.

In contrast, there are so many positive sides of this trend. The topmost one is getting more knowledge with exploring new places. To be more specific, it will give more idea about ancient places, which may increase the knowledge of the individuals. Hence, this trend can be benefited to the visitors and the local people of that perticular place as well.

To conclude, although this is positive for people who wants to explore new places and get more knowledge, but it can be disastrous for the people who want to show-off and waste their time and dollars on unnecessory stuffs.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The essay addresses both parts of the prompt, identifying reasons for the trend and expressing a position on whether it is positive or negative. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. For instance, the argument regarding 'waste of money and time' is repetitive and lacks specific examples. Furthermore, the essay contains a significant contradiction: while the introduction states the trend is negative, the third paragraph suddenly argues for the 'positive sides' of the trend without clearly linking this to the overall position. To improve, ensure that your arguments are fully extended and that your position remains consistent throughout the response.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into paragraphs, and there is a basic attempt to use cohesive devices such as 'To start with', 'In addition', and 'In contrast'. However, the logical progression is hindered by the contradictory stance taken in the third paragraph. The use of cohesive devices is sometimes mechanical or slightly unnatural, such as the transition into the third paragraph which undermines the thesis statement. Referencing is generally clear, but the overall flow between ideas could be improved by ensuring that each paragraph directly supports the central argument established in the introduction.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for a higher band. There is some repetition of basic terms like 'people', 'places', and 'knowledge'. Some word choices are slightly awkward or imprecise, such as 'non-useful places', 'unwanted expense', and 'unnecessory stuffs'. While the meaning is generally clear, the lack of more sophisticated or varied vocabulary limits the score. To improve, focus on using more precise collocations and a wider range of topic-specific vocabulary related to tourism and social media behavior.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation that occasionally affect the flow. Examples include 'Individuals are visiting' (unnecessary capitalization), 'this trend can be benefited to the visitors' (incorrect passive voice construction), and 'people who wants' (subject-verb agreement error). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma usage. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and correct preposition usage would be beneficial.

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