Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-11

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 6.0)

It is argued that clean water is a basic necessity and every citizen should have water that is provided free of charge. I partially agree with this statement because free excess is a fundamental human right, completely free systems cause problems like insufficient funds for maintenance and encourage water wastage.

Access to clean water is crucial for public. This solution helps to prevent severe diseases like cholera and typhoid. Children of poor communities suffer from bacterial diseases because their parents with low income cannot afford the high cost of water and this affects their physical growth and reduces their life expectancy. For example, in many rural regions of India, newborn children suffer from malnutrition, leading to serious health crises in developing nations. Families with low income face an impossible choice between water and education for basic survival. They cannot educate their children and compromise their education and spend their entire income on water. Consequently, young generation becomes uneducated, increasing the illiteracy rate of the nation.

On the contrary, zero cost of water service results in insufficient funds for maintenance. Governements and water authorities have insufficient revenue for maintaining the pipes, dams, and water treatment facilities cannot be ensured. As a result, water infrastructure will deteriorate, leading to water contamination, which is harmful to humans and animals. Ironically, in order to help poor people, a collapsed system leaves with no clean water at all. Another negative aspect is that free accessible water will encourage people for wasting water. This is because people will not have any burden of money to afford water, and hence they will use water in maximum usage. This can lead to water shortage in the future and there will be no water for humans and animals for basic usage.

To sum up, although children's health is a priority, it is essential to impose limited and affordable water charges rather than providing completely free water. Thus, reasonable water charges encourage conservation and fund infrastructure maintenance.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

You have clearly addressed all parts of the prompt by presenting a balanced view. Your position is consistent throughout, acknowledging the importance of water as a right while highlighting the practical necessity of charging for it. The ideas are well-developed, particularly the link between water costs and infrastructure maintenance. To reach a higher band, ensure that your supporting examples are more specific; for instance, while you mention rural India, the connection to the argument could be more tightly focused on how specific pricing models might solve the issue rather than just describing the problem of malnutrition.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear progression of ideas. Each paragraph has a central theme, and you use cohesive devices such as 'Consequently', 'On the contrary', and 'To sum up' effectively to guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing, such as in the sentence '...water treatment facilities cannot be ensured', where the subject-verb relationship is slightly awkward. Overall, the paragraphing is appropriate and contributes to a coherent flow of arguments.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to discuss the topic with some precision, using terms like 'malnutrition', 'infrastructure', and 'deteriorate'. There are some instances of slightly unnatural word choices, such as 'free excess' (likely meant 'free access') and 'maximum usage' (which is not a standard collocation). While these errors do not impede communication, they prevent the essay from reaching the higher bands where more sophisticated and idiomatic control is expected.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While many sentences are clear, there are recurring grammatical slips, such as 'Governements and water authorities have insufficient revenue for maintaining the pipes, dams, and water treatment facilities cannot be ensured' (a run-on/fused sentence structure) and 'young generation becomes' (missing article). Despite these errors, your meaning remains clear throughout. To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement and ensuring that complex sentences are punctuated correctly to avoid confusion.

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

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