Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-28
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)
It has been obersved that people take photographs of themselves at historical and well-known places without studying or visiting the place. This essay will examine factors that triggers this behaviour, and will find out that whether this trend is determintal or advantageous in general.
In the contemporary society, pictures of a visit are usually post by the public on their social media posts in a acticipation of securing likes and comments, instead of writing any informative note about the monument or place visited. This phenomene generates an environment of unspoken competition, and as a consequence, places are used as a backdrop only, whereas, primary focus of the picture remains on the individual. What is more, vast and easy access of information has also contributed towards this trend. The publicly available information is usually read by visitors before visiting any place along with its vidoes and historical contents. Therefore, that intrigue or curiorsity to know about a place dewindles, and focus shifts to take pictures of themselves only with the place, on the account that this couldn't be possible without physically being at the place.
There is a broad consensus that out of respect public should not only get themselves engaged in taking picture of themseleves without looking at the place. This holds true in many cases being reported, for instance, a couple's video got viral on social media recently, whereby they were found dancing on Worl War II monument. It attracts a widespread criticism from masses. Arguably the triggering point behind the couple's dancing at the monuement was to attract more likes and comments on their video, rather than paying respect and looking at the place.
On balance. although infromation is easily available
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses all parts of the task, examining both the causes of taking photos at well-known places without looking at them and considering whether this is a positive or negative trend. The introduction outlines these areas, and body paragraphs present relevant ideas regarding social media validation and information availability. However, the conclusion is incomplete, trailing off at the end ("On balance. although infromation is easily available..."), which prevents the position from being fully rounded. Ideas are generally relevant and extended, though the lack of a complete conclusion means the task is not fully realised at the higher bands, placing this comfortably at Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with clear logical sequencing between paragraphs. Paragraphing is utilised to separate the introduction, causes, and the negative evaluation. Cohesive devices such as "In the contemporary society", "What is more", and "Therefore" are used to connect ideas, although some referencing is slightly mechanical. Furthermore, the abrupt ending of the essay disrupts the overall progression and structural completeness. Despite these flaws, the progression of ideas is generally clear and easy to follow, justifying a Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common lexical items such as "contemporary society", "unspoken competition", and "drewindles". However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including "obersved", "triggers" (subject-verb agreement with factors), "determintal", "post" instead of posted, "acticipation", "phenomene", "vidoes", "curiorsity", "dewindles", "infromation", and "monuement". While these errors are frequent, they do not impede overall communication, fitting the Band 5.5 profile well.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and conditional structures. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in word formation, preposition use, and spelling, such as "in a acticipation", "focus shifts to take pictures", and "on the account that". Additionally, sentence structures occasionally become awkward, as seen in "public should not only get themselves engaged in taking picture of themseleves without looking at the place." These errors sometimes cause slight hesitation for the reader but rarely fully impede communication, placing the grammar at a Band 5.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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