Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-10

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 6.5)

The topic mentioned here is whether every household should have the supply of clean water, as the access to the same is a basic human right. While I certainly agree with the fact that every household and every human being should have access to clean water, I beg to differ from the appeal that it should be free. To add some strength to my disagreement, I would like to explain a few scenarios.

Scenario 1: Based on socio-economic bands of the population, regardless rural and urban, we can observe that people with abundance of resources tend to be wasteful with them. Whereas people living below poverty line faces scarcity. This is a very common image throughout Indian cities, towns and villages. Thus, implementing small charges to the consumption of clean water for the ones who can actually pay them, should be a good move as this ensures we would be able to provide the economically backward classes with free access to clean water. That is only if we succeed in minimizing the wastage.

Scenario 2: Clean water is not only used for drinking and household chores. It is heavily used in factories and industries throughout the world, mostly to produce energy through steam and keep the temperature of the machineries below a certain point. In the 21st century, fresh water is also used in Data Centers which is the backbone of organizations built on Artificial Intelligence. For this reason as well, free access of fresh water should not be an ethical call as people around the world is deprived of what the machines are consuming.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position: agreeing that clean water is a right, but disagreeing that it should be free. The ideas are relevant, particularly the distinction between domestic and industrial use. However, the development is somewhat limited. The 'Scenario' structure feels more like a list than a cohesive argument, and the essay lacks a formal conclusion to summarize the main points. While the position is clear, the arguments could be more thoroughly extended to reach a higher band. The focus on industrial consumption is a strong, sophisticated point that adds depth to the response.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into distinct paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the argument. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical. The transition between the introduction and the scenarios is abrupt, and the use of 'Scenario 1' and 'Scenario 2' as paragraph headers is not ideal for an academic essay; it would be better to use transition words like 'Firstly' or 'Furthermore'. Referencing is generally clear, but the flow between sentences could be improved to create a more natural progression of ideas.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The vocabulary is generally appropriate and conveys the intended meaning well. There are some good collocations such as 'socio-economic bands', 'economically backward classes', and 'ethical call'. However, there are minor inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'regardless rural and urban' (should be 'regardless of whether they are in rural or urban areas') and 'people... faces' (subject-verb agreement error). While the range is sufficient for the task, it lacks the consistent precision and flexibility required for a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors that occur throughout the text, such as 'people... faces' (subject-verb agreement), 'people around the world is deprived' (should be 'are deprived'), and 'implementing small charges to the consumption' (should be 'for the consumption'). While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. A greater variety of error-free complex structures would be needed to move into the 7.0+ range.

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

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