Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-07-27
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
Nowadays famous people are photographed by professional photographers everywhere they go. Some people say this is a good thing because the public are interested in their lives. Other people think that photographers are wrong to follow famous people.
Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
Many people today choose to travel abroad for their holidays rather than staying in their own country. Do advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
In this modern era, visitors like to commute to the foreign countries for their vacations instead of exploring their nation country. In my opinion, the advantages of travelling to other countries are far more significant than the disadvantages.
Travelling abroad has several notable drawbacks. Firstly, the vacations could be an exorbitant. In order to explain that, these days the plane tickets are very costly to travel and there are some another expenses such as clothing, gas, food, etc. that cannot make the trip cost-efficient. Therefore, it can place a burden of budget enhancement on the tourists.
Despite of these challenges, there are some advantages of spending time in the another countries during vacations . First of all, travelling world-wide provides foreign exposure to the individuals, several opportunities such as exploring new cultures, religions, beliefs and traditions often provides significant benefits to the tourists. Furthermore, it can also broaden their experience and boost their knowledge. For instance, the origin and architecture of the greatest wall of china provides knowledge to the tourists. Thus, commuting to different countries can be highly enriching and rewarding for the tourists.
In conclusion, although travelling abroad can put financial burden on tourists, I believe that the advantages in terms of exploration of another country surpass the disadvantages.
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 is completely off-topic. The prompt asks for a discussion on the ethics of paparazzi photographing famous people, but the essay discusses the advantages and disadvantages of travelling abroad. Because the response fails to address the task prompt entirely, it cannot be assessed on the development of ideas related to the actual topic. Additionally, the response is under the 250-word minimum requirement, which further impacts the score. To improve, you must carefully read the prompt and ensure your essay directly answers the specific question asked.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organised into clear paragraphs with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. There is an attempt to use cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Despite of', and 'Furthermore', though some are used incorrectly (e.g., 'Despite of' should be 'Despite'). The logical progression is present within the context of the irrelevant topic, but the lack of relevance to the prompt makes the overall coherence ineffective. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different points, which is a positive feature.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for basic communication, though there are several errors in word choice and collocation. For example, 'commute to the foreign countries' is an unnatural collocation; 'travel' or 'visit' would be better. Phrases like 'budget enhancement' are used incorrectly to mean 'financial burden'. There is some attempt to use topic-specific vocabulary, such as 'exorbitant' and 'enriching', but the range is limited and often imprecise. More attention to natural collocations and precise word usage is needed.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as 'the vacations could be an exorbitant' (incorrect article usage), 'the another countries' (incorrect determiner), and 'the greatest wall of china' (capitalisation error). Subject-verb agreement is also inconsistent, as seen in 'traditions often provides'. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of errors in basic grammar and punctuation prevents the essay from reaching a higher band score.
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