Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-30

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)

In this social media era, the trend has emerged for taking and posting photographs of themselves visiting famous places. However, they only concentrate on taking excellent photographs and videos rather than admiring the actual places. this essay examines the key factor and whether it is a positive or a negative trend.

social media platform users tend to show off their lives to others, while posting details of travelling photos, cooking videos, their luxuries lives etc. This trend has disrupted the people's mindset to be only good at such platforms rather than feeling and admiring the real life. A book called "Selfie" has given the statement that " In past decade, when there was no social media people used to avoid showing off their personal lives, however nowadays individuals even make fake photos of them of visiting famous areas by using Artificial Intelligence." This means individuals do not care about places' ambious and history but they only care about photographs and videos.

In modern society, there has been growing concern about this trend that there will be negative impact on future generation. As people will no longer have knowledge about places' historys and infrastructures. Moreover, if they will only visit a place for photographs, they will forget to live that atmosphere and positive energy a place have.

In conclusion, major factor of this trend is disrupted mindset of people which only know how to post on social media but they do not know about the places' history. Furthermore, this may impact negatively in next generation, as they will be unable to live real life but showing of their lives.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions: you identify social media self-presentation as a reason for the behaviour and clearly judge its effects as negative, especially for future generations. The discussion of people prioritising posts over experiencing a place is relevant, and the example about AI-generated images supports your explanation. However, some points are asserted rather than fully explained. For instance, the claim that young people will lack knowledge of history and “positive energy” is not developed with a specific consequence or example. The cited book is also introduced without enough context to show how its claim supports your argument. To strengthen the response, explain the causes and effects more precisely and develop one or two examples in greater depth.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph explaining the social-media motivation, a paragraph on negative effects, and a conclusion. This makes the main line of argument understandable. You also use linking expressions such as “Moreover” and “In conclusion.” However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes mechanical, and some connections between claims are unclear. For example, the move from showing off online to people making AI-generated photographs needs a clearer explanation. The conclusion largely repeats the earlier points rather than bringing them together. Improve cohesion by making each paragraph develop one central idea in a clear sequence, and use pronouns and linking phrases only where their references are unmistakable.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “social media,” “famous places,” “future generation,” and “personal lives,” and you attempt more specific expressions such as “disrupted the people's mindset.” This gives you enough range to communicate the main ideas, but several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, sometimes making the meaning less precise. Examples include “ambious” for the qualities or appeal of a place, “luxuries lives,” and “showing of their lives.” There are also spelling and word-form problems, such as “historys.” Aim to learn common collocations as complete phrases and check spelling and word forms during revision. More precise vocabulary would make your argument clearer and more convincing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses beginning with “while” and “as,” and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, control is inconsistent, particularly in longer sentences. For example, “As people will no longer have knowledge…” is a dependent clause presented as a sentence, while “if they will only visit a place” uses an unsuitable future form after “if.” There are also errors in agreement and sentence construction, as in “a place have,” and punctuation and capitalisation are not consistently controlled, including the lowercase start of “this essay.” Practise building complete sentences around subordinate clauses, and check verb forms and agreement. Greater accuracy in these areas would make your ideas easier to follow.

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