Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-06

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Access to clean water is a basic human right. Therefore every home should have a water supply that is provided free of charge.

Do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

In recent years, Water supply should be free of charge to every home because it is a basic human right has become an increasingly debatable issue. While different people have different opinions about this matter, I agree that water supply should not have any costs. This essay will discuss the main reasons for my opinion.

To begin with, One important reason is that Water is directly connected with a public health and it is helpful to prevent diseases. This is because water is used in daily routine from drinking to washing dishes and if water supply demands money poor people cannot pay money for it on daily basis and as a result they ends up with using water from nearby dirty ponds or small rivers, which affects on their healh, In addition drinking clean water provides lots of health benefits and helps to prevent diseases. For example, In India there are so many small town where people cannot afford 24 hours water supply, due to that so many people survive from disease which is caused by uses unhygeinic and dirty water.

Another significant reason is that Each and every class people have an equal access to water, it is fair for some people who cannot afford drinking water by money on daily bases. This means that clean water to use in household chores or for drinking is basic human rights and it is not fair that below poverty line people have to survive to get this basic rights. Therefore free of charge water proivdes equality between poor and elite people. For instance, People who lives in a urban areas in high-rise buildings pay a bill for water or they buy water purifier, on the contrary people who lives in slum area cannot afford water purifier or paying bills monthly to access clean water, Thats why it should be free for all people.

In conclusion, Access to clean water is basic human right and every home should have a free water supply. Considering all these points, I believe that free water supply is important because it helpful in health related issues and every people have an equal access to water to use in house.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position in favor of free water supply. The ideas are relevant, focusing on public health and social equality. However, the development is somewhat repetitive; the argument regarding 'poor people' is restated in both body paragraphs without significant new depth. While the position is clear throughout, the supporting examples, such as the mention of India, are a bit generic and could be more effectively integrated to strengthen the argument. Overall, the response covers all parts of the task, but the depth of analysis remains at a moderate level.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear central topic. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To begin with', 'In addition', and 'On the contrary', though some transitions feel a bit mechanical. There are instances where the flow is interrupted by awkward phrasing or punctuation errors, such as the comma splice in 'affects on their healh, In addition'. Referencing is generally clear, but the internal structure of sentences sometimes hinders the smooth progression of ideas. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the two main arguments.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks sophistication. The student uses basic terms like 'money', 'dirty', and 'people' repeatedly. There are some errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'survive from disease' (should be 'suffer from') and 'affects on their healh' (should be 'affects their health'). While the student attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'public health' and 'poverty line', the range is limited, and the repetition of simple words prevents the essay from reaching a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('every people have', 'people who lives') and incorrect article usage. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with several run-on sentences and comma splices, such as 'This is because water is used in daily routine... and as a result they ends up with using water...'. While the meaning is generally clear, the high frequency of these errors indicates a lack of control over complex structures, which limits the score.

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

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