Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-16
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)
Clean water is the fundemental right of all human beings. Everyone should have access to clean water as a basic human right, while clean water should provide free of cost to everyone. I completely agree with this because water is essentail for human life and should be available for everyone.
On the one hand, Government should charge for clean water because everyone waste the water unnecessary. It reduce the level of clean water availability throughout world. For example, children are not remember to close the tap of water and wasting the water until the water end from the water storage area. Furthermore, government should charge and utilise this money to create water production supply. Some countries are generating numerous amount of water from production supply houses.
On the other hand, Water is the basic right of human beings, so it should be available without any charges. Although water coming from natural sources, the government doesn't have rights to charge for this water. For instance, river is the main source of water, so why government charge on this water. Moreover, Water is essentail for human life and everyone could not afford this payable water. It becomes difficult to servive in the world, if someone is poor. For example, a worker earns 10$ per day, then how they manage to buy water.
In conclusion, money should be charged to reduce the wastage of water, whereas water is essentail for life and it is includes in the basic human rights. Thats why i agree with this statement.
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 addresses the prompt by discussing whether clean water should be provided free of charge, presenting arguments on both sides. The writer's position is stated, although there is a notable contradiction: the introduction and conclusion state full agreement with the statement that water should be provided free, yet the first body paragraph argues the opposite—that governments should charge for water to prevent wastage. This internal contradiction prevents a fully clear and consistent position throughout, which places the response under Band 6. While ideas such as water wastage and affordability for low-income workers are introduced, they are somewhat under-developed and lack extension. To reach a higher band, the writer must maintain a consistent position and support all main points with more thoroughly developed explanations.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into distinct paragraphs, including an introduction, two body paragraphs representing opposing views, and a conclusion. There is a clear overall arrangement and basic progression of ideas. However, cohesive devices are sometimes faulty or repetitive, such as the frequent use of 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand' to structure arguments, and transition phrases like 'Thats why i agree with this statement' in the conclusion. Referencing is occasionally unclear, and logical flow between sentences is sometimes disrupted by awkward phrasing. Paragraphing is present and appropriate for the task, but overall management of cohesive relationships requires more flexibility and accuracy to achieve a Band 7.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to communicate basic ideas about water access and government responsibilities. There are several spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'fundemental' instead of fundamental, 'essentail' instead of essential, 'servive' instead of survive, and awkward collocations like 'production supply houses' and 'payable water'. The writer attempts less common vocabulary, but these inaccuracies and spelling mistakes occur frequently enough to impede clarity at times. To achieve a Band 6, the vocabulary shows sufficient range for the prompt, but lexical control and accuracy need improvement.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting conditional and interrogative structures such as 'if someone is poor' and 'then how they manage to buy water.' However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in articles ('the government doesn't have rights', 'river is the main source'), subject-verb agreement ('children are not remember'), and punctuation/capitalization ('i agree'). Questions are used awkwardly as rhetorical statements in a formal essay context. While communication is generally maintained despite these errors, the high frequency of grammatical slips prevents the response from reaching a Band 6 fully, resulting in a Band 5.5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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