Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-10

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 today’s world most of the people are like to click pictures on every occasion to save as a memory. People often visits memorial places to take their portraits. In my opinion this is negative trend.

The main reason behind this is social media effect because what they see that they will do.

As they see many celebrities have their pictures at well known places on their social media like Snapchat, instagram or others. Due to this they follow celebrity trend and visit those places to click pictures just to show off to others people.

For example last year I visited to Nova Scotia with my friends on vacation. First we went to Harbour lake to enjoy the walk and view but I have one friend who was taking pictures all time without even looking what we are doing there and he also clicked photo in front of Harbour view library but didn’t check inside the library.

Why I think it is negative trend because people are wasting money just to click pictures without enjoying the moment where they went. I mean if u spend your time and money you have to make it worth by exploring the place neither just to take photographs and comeback. Secondly I don’t think people will care of your photos where you clicked at so it’s just show off for them.

In conclusion I want to say if you go to someplace just to click pictures rather than exploring than it’s negative trend for me and people should avoid that trend.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the reasons for the trend and the opinion on whether it is positive or negative. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. The explanation regarding social media is relevant but remains quite superficial. The example provided about the trip to Nova Scotia is personal and illustrative, but it lacks a broader analytical perspective. To reach a higher band, you should expand on the underlying psychological or societal motivations for this behavior beyond just 'showing off' and provide more sophisticated arguments regarding the impact on tourism or cultural appreciation.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is quite basic and sometimes repetitive (e.g., 'The main reason', 'For example', 'In conclusion'). There are instances where the flow between sentences is abrupt, such as the transition between the social media point and the personal example. The referencing is occasionally unclear, and the logical progression of ideas could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words and better signposting to connect the arguments more fluidly.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and variety required for higher bands. You rely on simple, repetitive phrasing such as 'click pictures' and 'well known places'. There are some errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'memorial places' (likely meaning 'monuments' or 'landmarks') and 'comeback' (which should be 'return'). To improve, you should aim to incorporate more topic-specific vocabulary related to tourism, social media culture, and personal experience to demonstrate a broader range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'most of the people are like to click'), missing articles, and incorrect preposition usage (e.g., 'visited to Nova Scotia'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with the use of commas. While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of these errors prevents the writing from reaching a higher band. You should focus on mastering basic sentence construction and proofreading for common grammatical slips.

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