Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-13

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)

Nowadays, People often visit famous places or tourist spots to capture moments by clicking pictures, but did not care about the surroundings and do not look up the place where they visit. In my point of view, It is totally a negative trend because folks in the present era are more towards like and materialistic things, and they do not care about the atmosphere and nature as well. I will explain my perspective in the next paragraph with a suitable example.

To start with, the first thing I would like to mention is that human beings in the current time do not care about anyone except their social image on social platforms. Moreover, People do not maintain the tourist spots and make a mess all over the surroundings where they visit. For example, if an individual goes camping in a hill station and has a bonfire or any other activity, they do not clean up their mess at the site after wrapping up their things. This will affect Mother Nature as pollution increases, and because of garbage the atmosphere gets more damaged.

In addition to this, People capture their moments by clicking photographs with their loved ones, which is a good thing, but damaging nature would affect global warming in the future. Also, sometimes the background in the picture looks messy because of plastic and garbage, but nobody cares about it. People have started to believe that it's not their job to keep the area clean.

To wrap things up, I wanted to conclude that the trend has more negative aspects compared to positive. I believe that People should be aware of the need to preserve tourism and the famous places. Moreover, the government should take some strict actions to maintain the tourist attraction.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you consider the trend negative, and you give relevant concerns about litter, pollution and damage to nature. The camping example helps illustrate the environmental consequences. However, the task asks why people focus on photographing themselves rather than looking at the place, and this cause is only briefly suggested through “their social image on social platforms.” Much of the response then discusses littering, which is related but does not fully explain the behaviour in the prompt. The positive or negative judgement is stated, but the reasoning is not consistently developed; for instance, you acknowledge that taking photographs can be good without explaining this contrast. Develop the social-media motivation and connect each example more directly to the question.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion, and the main position is easy to follow. Paragraphs generally group related points: the first body paragraph focuses on social image and litter, while the next adds the effect on nature and the appearance of photographs. Linking phrases such as “To start with,” “In addition to this” and “To wrap things up” help signal stages in the argument. At times, however, these transitions feel formulaic, and the progression from taking selfies to littering is not fully explained. The opening also promises an example, but the example supports the environmental point more than the stated cause. Make the links between claims explicit and use referencing more precisely.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including topic-related terms such as “tourist spots,” “social platforms,” “pollution” and “global warming.” There are also attempts at more expressive language, such as “Mother Nature” and “preserve.” However, several phrases are awkward or imprecise, including “more towards like and materialistic things,” “maintain the tourist spots,” and “preserve tourism.” Repetition of “People,” “places” and “clicking photographs” also limits variety. These choices do not prevent the reader from understanding your overall message, but they make some points less natural and precise. Aim for accurate collocations and vocabulary that directly describes the behaviour, such as seeking online approval or appreciating a destination.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a conditional example beginning “if an individual goes camping” and a cause-and-effect sentence about pollution. The overall meaning is generally understandable, but errors in verb forms and sentence construction recur. For example, “People often visit … but did not care” shifts tense, while “do not care about anyone except their social image” has an unclear grammatical relationship between “anyone” and “image.” The opening sentence also combines several ideas in a way that makes its structure difficult to follow. Capitalisation is inconsistent, with “People” and “It” often capitalised mid-sentence. Work on keeping tense consistent, building clearer clauses, and checking sentence boundaries and capital letters.

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.