Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-22

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)

People like to capture their memories by visiting various places around the world. It is argued that large group of people visit to popular areas to take the pictures of themselves without exploring the place. Some places got unnecessary hype which attracts heavy crowd. I believe that this is negative development as it affects the lovely environment.

To commence with, there is a big trend among youngsters to create quality content by visiting famous places. For making a attractive video the place need to be beautiful and well known which promotes more views, doing this their main focus is to publicise their clip rather then enjoying the beauty of that place. For instance, a huge crowd of people visit NY Times Square to make their dance video as they never look that place its just to get more views due to popular place. Moreover, some pupil like to make their friends jealous by posting photographs on social media by exploring legendary places. For instance, youth uploads pictures of celebrated cities to gain fame and make others possessive while not focusing on the beauty of that town.

I believe that, this is a negative development as it destroys the attraction by making huge crowd at smaller places. As many people travel to well known places just to take pictures and in return they disturbs the hygiene of that place. To illustrate, many students visits Niagra falls to just take pictures and spreads lot of garbage by throwing waste at certain places which affects the environment. Furthermore, due to more visitors the price of tourist areas are increasing everyday. Even small pack of chips is available at thrice the original price therefore middle class people cannot afford to visit famous places due to expense.

To conclude, As there is a huge trend for content creators and making videos at attractive places help them to gain more views without exploring the area. However, more crowd damages natural beauty and it creates more hype for the pace where basic things turns up expensive to afford.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both the reasons behind the phenomenon (such as social media clout and content creation) and taking a clear position on whether it is a positive or negative trend. Ideas are generally relevant, but some are slightly repetitive or under-developed, relying on overlapping examples like social media jealousy and content creation. For instance, the mention of NY Times Square and Niagara Falls helps illustrate the points, but the reasoning can feel somewhat generalised. Overall, the task is adequately fulfilled to a Band 6 level, meeting all basic requirements of the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is divided into clear paragraphs with an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion, showing an overall logical progression. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or faulty, such as 'To commence with' and 'To illustrate'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, and transitions between sentences can feel abrupt. For example, the sentence 'As many people travel to well known places just to take pictures and in return they disturbs the hygiene...' exhibits awkward linking. Paragraphing is present and appropriate, but the internal cohesion places this firmly in the Band 6 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'publicise', 'content creators', and 'natural beauty'. However, there are numerous lexical errors, awkward word choices, and collocation slips, such as 'heavy crowd' instead of 'large crowds', 'disturbs the hygiene' instead of 'litter' or 'damage cleanliness', and 'possessive' instead of 'envious'. Spelling and word-form errors are also present, such as 'Niagra' instead of 'Niagara' and 'pupil' instead of 'people'. These errors do not completely impede communication, pointing securely to a Band 5.5 or 6.0, best represented here by a 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but grammatical control is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in verb tense, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions, such as 'place need to be' instead of 'places need to be', 'they never look that place' instead of 'they never look at the place', and 'visits Niagra falls to just take pictures' (split infinitive and plural/singular mismatch). Punctuation is also occasionally problematic, particularly with comma splices and run-on structures. While communication is rarely blocked entirely, the density of grammatical errors keeps the score at a Band 5.0.

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