Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-01

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)

Growing number of individuals visit famous locations to take just a photo of themselves without seeing at the place. The primary reason is maximum use of social media where people influence via watching reels and photos of their loved ones. It is showing a negative trend of travelling because without doing research of the place and just watching pictures of others.

Firstly, social media play vital role into our society where we only affect through watching our feed. They always crave for posting the viral or renowned places. For example, in India, people posted photo of themselves at Kedarnath and tourism begins from the next year. In past few years Kedarnath become dirty and polluted because of the overcrowd where people only come for the photography.

There are some hidden gem and least popular area where we spend our vacation nicely but nowadays the youngsters do not like places which are least popular. For instance, European tourists like to travel hidden places rather than well-known places like Poland and Slovakia which are least expensive. Whereas, the living cost per day in Switzerland is 10 times higher than Poland while Poland is also as beautiful as Switzerland. Additionally, Switzerland has become very popular in just last few years due to social media.

In conclusion, we should not blindly follow others. In this modern era, people can make their own budget friendly itinerary by themselves using artificial intelligence. Individuals can choose the place wisely that brings happiness rather than choosing the popular place through someone's picture.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by identifying reasons for tourists visiting popular locations merely for photographs and discussing whether this is a positive or negative trend. A clear position is maintained throughout, presenting the trend as largely negative due to overcrowding and pollution. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others. For instance, the explanation of social media influence and the example of Kedarnath are relevant and detailed, but the discussion regarding hidden gems and European travel preferences in the third paragraph is somewhat underdeveloped and lacks precise clarity regarding how it directly answers the prompt's core question. To move to a higher band, the writer needs to ensure all main ideas are equally extended with deeper, more robust supporting explanations.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the essay into an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as social media impacts and alternative travel choices. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical and referencing is not always clear, which places the response at this band level. For example, transitional phrases feel slightly formulaic, and pronouns like 'They' in the second paragraph lack a precise antecedent, causing slight ambiguity. Additionally, logical progression between the second and third paragraphs could be smoother to establish a more seamless flow of ideas. Enhancing the variety and subtlety of cohesive devices would improve the overall organizational control.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'itinerary', 'hidden gem', and 'renowned places'. Meaning is generally clear, and errors in word choice and spelling do not impede communication. However, there are notable lexical inaccuracies and awkward collocations throughout the text, such as 'without seeing at the place', 'maximum use of social media', and 'overcrowd' instead of overcrowding. To achieve a higher band, the writer should focus on expanding lexical precision, ensuring correct word forms, and using natural collocations consistently rather than relying on slightly unnatural phrasings when attempting more advanced vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at subordination and relative clauses. However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. Issues include missing articles ('Growing number of individuals'), incorrect prepositions ('play vital role into our society'), and subject-verb agreement or tense errors ('Kedarnath become dirty', 'tourism begins'). Additionally, awkward phrasing in structures like 'where people only come for the photography' reflects limited control over complex sentence patterns. To improve, the writer needs to strengthen grammatical accuracy in basic and complex structures alike, paying careful attention to articles, prepositions, and verb forms.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.