Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-06

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 6.5)

Nowadays, many people visit famous places mainly to take photographs of themselves instead of enjoying the place. This is becoming a common trend, especially because of social media. In my opinion, this is a negative trend, although it has some benefits.

There are several reason why this is happening. Firstly, social media platform such as Instagram and facebook have become very popular. People like to share their travel photos with friends and followers. they often want to show that they have visited famous places.

Secondly, modern smartphones have high quality camera, So taking and sharing photos has become very easy. For Example, when people visit a famous tourist attraction, they may spend more time taking selfies than looking at the attraction itself.

I belive this trend mostly negative. One important reason is that people may not properly experience or understand the place they visit. They can become more interested in getting a good photograph than learning about the history and culture of the destination. In addition, taking too many photographs can disturb other tourist, especially in crowded places.

However, taking photograph is not completely bad. Photos can help people remember their trips and share their experiance with family and friends. For example, a person may take a few picture at the Eiffel tower and later use them to remember their holidays.

In conclusion, People are incresingly taking photograph at famous places because of social media and smartphones. Although photographs are useful for memories, I believe this is a negative trend because people can miss the real experience of visiting and understanding a places.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

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 throughout the essay. Ideas are relevant, such as the influence of social media and the ease of smartphone photography, though some points could be developed further with more depth. For instance, the discussion on the negative impact on the 'real experience' is a strong point, but it could be expanded with more specific examples of how this affects cultural appreciation. Overall, the task is fulfilled adequately, covering all requirements with a consistent viewpoint.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different ideas. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', 'In addition', and 'However' are used to guide the reader through the argument. While the flow is generally smooth, some transitions feel slightly mechanical. Referencing is mostly clear, though there are minor issues with pronoun consistency (e.g., 'they' referring back to 'people' in the second paragraph). Overall, the progression of ideas is logical and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning, but it lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. There are several spelling errors, such as 'reason' instead of 'reasons', 'belive' instead of 'believe', 'experiance' instead of 'experience', and 'incresingly' instead of 'increasingly'. While the student uses some topic-specific vocabulary like 'tourist attraction' and 'social media platform', the overall lexical range is somewhat limited. The errors do not impede communication, but they do highlight a need for more careful proofreading and a wider variety of descriptive language.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues (e.g., 'social media platform such as' should be plural, 'camera' should be 'cameras') and punctuation errors (e.g., 'So taking' should not be capitalized after a comma). Additionally, there are minor slips like 'disturb other tourist' (should be plural) and 'understanding a places' (should be singular). Despite these errors, the meaning remains clear throughout, and the student demonstrates an ability to construct complex sentences, even if they are not always perfectly accurate.

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