Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-12

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)

There is no doubt that nowadays people visit popular places to take photos of themselves without knowing that place. I will discuss why people do that and what is the positive and negative sides of this trend in the following paragraphs.

On the one hand, the major reason why people visiting that sort of places is social media. In todays era, everyone has their own social media handlers. When they see any kind of trend going on, they just want to try it on themselves. For example, if a influence just visited USA and posted some photos, videos. From this point they just followed that influencer without even knowing that place and taking photos of themselves, so that they can also get attention just like others.

Furthermore, in my opinion it is a positive trend, when people visiting other places. This trend automatically enhance other country economy and increase employment over there. To explain it, when a lot many people visit a place just cause of social media, then they spend money on their trips , on their accommodations, on their food , which will indirectly enhance the popularity of that place as well as the economy of those places. As a result, just cause of their visiting not only that country growth going up but also their residents get benefits as well.

In conclusion , it is positive trend which brings numerous benefits from various prospective. Which i already mentioned in the pervious paragraphs.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by explaining why people engage in this trend (social media and trends) and giving an opinion on whether it is positive or negative. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. Furthermore, the length requirement has not been met, as the response contains only 245 words, falling short of the 250-word minimum. This results in a slight penalty to the task response score. While the position is clear, the arguments could have been extended with deeper analysis or concrete personal examples rather than generalisations. Therefore, it meets the criteria for a Band 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay displays a basic overall organisation with clear paragraphing, including an introduction, body paragraphs addressing the prompt's questions, and a brief conclusion. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical, faulty, or overused, such as 'On the one hand', 'Furthermore', and 'In conclusion'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in the transition from 'an influence' to 'From this point they just followed that influencer'. Paragraph progression is present, but overall cohesion lacks the flexibility and smooth flow required for higher bands. This places the text firmly at Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate basic ideas about tourism, social media, and economic growth. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary like 'economy', 'accommodations', and 'prospective', but these are accompanied by noticeable errors in word choice, form, and spelling, such as 'social media handlers' instead of 'handles', 'todays era' instead of 'today's era', 'influence' instead of 'influencer', and 'pervious' instead of 'previous'. These errors do not completely impede communication, resulting in a Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional and relative clauses. However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including tense inconsistencies, missing prepositions, and article errors, such as 'when people visiting' instead of 'when people visit', 'other country economy' instead of 'other countries' economies', and 'just cause of their visiting' instead of 'just because of their visits'. Punctuation is also faulty in places, such as unnecessary commas before closing parentheses. These errors occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, aligning with Band 5.5.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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