Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-14

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, many tourists explore the lot of tourist attarctions around the world. It is often argued that lot of individuals visit the tourist places just to photograph of themselves without giving significance to that place. I believe this has been a largely detrimental trend in our society. The essay will further explain the reasons for the same with relevant examples.

In recent years, we live in a time where social media play a vital role. Everyday, numerous trends are going viral on instagram or tik-tok and users following these trends to stand out on social media. One of the main reason is that individuals make content on social media just for the likes and followers on their reels and videos. For isntance, many bloggers are running their instagram account by uploading the content of visiting a place. Another main reason is the sedentary lifestyle as individuals get less leisure time to visit any enthusiast place, they collected the memories of the place to share with their friends and loved ones.

It drives a very negative trend in the society because people devote most of their time to filming themselves rather than engaging with the history or the beauty of the place. It is remarkable to have the photograph of yourself but without admiring the beauty of that place, the trip is useless. As many tourist attractions around the world provides the strong source of historical knowledge. To iluustrate, visiting the war memorial garden in Nova Scotia enlighten the history of the soldiers who lost their lives while fighting for the nation.

To conclude, filming the tourist-attarctive places is excellent to keep them as memories. However, without engaging with the significance of that place

the trip is not worth the visit.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions: social-media trends and the desire for likes are offered as reasons, and you clearly judge the trend to be negative. The discussion of filming instead of appreciating a place is relevant, and the war memorial example helps explain what visitors may miss. However, the second reason—limited leisure time and a “sedentary lifestyle”—is not clearly connected to taking photographs, so its relevance is uncertain. The reasons and the negative effects are also explained briefly rather than fully developed. To strengthen the response, clarify how each cause leads people to prioritise selfies, then extend the example by showing the specific impact on visitors’ understanding or experience.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph on causes, a paragraph on the negative effects, and a conclusion. This makes the overall direction easy to follow. Linking phrases such as “One of the main reason,” “Another main reason,” and “To conclude” signal the stages, but the repeated formula can feel mechanical, and some connections between ideas are unclear. For example, the move from limited leisure time to collecting memories is not fully explained. The final paragraph also repeats the central point without adding a clear synthesis. Use more precise links between cause and effect, and make sure each paragraph develops one connected line of reasoning.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “social media,” “likes and followers,” “historical knowledge,” and “admiring the beauty,” so the main ideas are generally understandable. There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “tourist attractions” and “sedentary lifestyle.” However, noticeable spelling and word-choice errors reduce precision: “attarctions,” “isntance,” and “iluustrate” are misspelled, while “enthusiast place” and “tourist-attarctive places” are unnatural combinations. “Photograph of themselves” also does not express the intended action as naturally as “take photographs of themselves.” Build accuracy by checking spelling and learning common collocations for tourism and social media; this will make your vocabulary more reliable and flexible.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a subordinate clause in “without giving significance to that place” and a contrast introduced by “However.” The overall meaning remains understandable, but some grammatical errors occur across the response. For example, “social media play” needs a singular verb in this context, “users following these trends” lacks a finite verb, and “One of the main reason” has a number-agreement error. The sentence beginning “As many tourist attractions…” is also incomplete, and “the trip is not worth the visit” has an unclear grammatical relationship. Review subject–verb agreement, complete sentence structure, and article and plural use. Aim to make complex sentences complete and controlled before adding further complexity.

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