Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-20

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 should be easily available to everyone and accessing it is a fundamental human right . While there are arguments on wether a free water supply sholud be provided to every household, I firmly believe that water should be supplied for free of cost

Firstly, fresh water is necessary for various day-to-day purposes like drinking, bathing and other daily needs. Secondly, accessing clean drinking water is highly beneficial to the health as it helps in preventing from water-born diseases like Cholera and Thypoid . For instance, untreated water -bodies may lead to the acquisition of different water born health problems. So, providig clean water helps in benefiting the health of an individual and also fostere communit health

Moreover , accessing clean water s a fundamental right of an individual.Furthermore, every household should be supplied clean water for free to improrve the overal health of the community which in turn helps achieve improved global health. For example, the marginalized population finds it difficult to purchase clean water and may depend on unclean water bodies for their daily needs. This in turn leads to introduction of various water-related health isues in these population and will have a negitve impact on the society. For this reason, suppyling clean water for every house is essential and is an effective strategy for reducind most of the water-borne diseases. Additionally, government should put some regulations on the amount of water usage to prevent the wastage of water

In conclusion, fresh and treated water supply should be available to every household at free of charge and availing it is a basic right for every person. Although it contributes to universal health some regulations should be imposed to prevent water wastage and ensure sustainability.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student addresses all parts of the task by clearly stating and supporting a position on whether clean water should be provided free of charge. The main ideas, such as health benefits for individuals and marginalized communities as well as the need for sustainability regulations, are relevant and extended. For instance, the writer notes that untreated water bodies lead to water-borne diseases like cholera and typhoid, and mentions the impact on marginalized populations. However, there is some repetition of ideas across the body paragraphs regarding health benefits and basic human rights, which prevents full development at a higher band level. Overall, the response meets the criteria for Band 6.5, leaning towards Band 7 for clearly stating a position throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response has a clear overall progression with a recognizable introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as health benefits in the second paragraph and marginalized populations in the third. Cohesive devices are employed, including transition words like 'Firstly', 'Moreover', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical, such as abrupt transitions and minor referencing issues ('this in turn leads to introduction... in these population'). Additionally, punctuation around commas and spaces is occasionally awkward (e.g., 'Moreover , accessing'). These issues place the response firmly in the Band 6 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student attempts a range of vocabulary suitable for the topic, including terms like 'fundamental human right', 'marginalized population', and 'sustainability'. However, there are several noticeable spelling errors and typographical slips throughout the text, such as 'wether', 'sholud', 'water-born', 'Thypoid', 'providig', 'fostere', 'improrve', 'overal', 'isues', 'negitve', 'suppyling', and 'reducind'. While these errors do not severely impede communication because the context remains clear, their frequency prevents the lexical score from reaching Band 7. The vocabulary range is adequate and attempts less common items, which aligns well with the Band 6 descriptor.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional-like structures (e.g., 'While there are arguments on whether...'). There are, however, several grammatical and mechanical errors present, such as missing articles ('benefiting the health of an individual and also fostere communit health', 'government should put some regulations'), singular/plural mismatches ('in these population', 'water-related health isues'), and punctuation spacing issues. Although these errors do not impede overall communication and the meaning is generally clear, they occur frequently enough to keep the grammar score at Band 6 rather than Band 7.

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

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