Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-24
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)
Water is among the basic necessities of a human life. A clean water is therefore a source of richness to human health, for its proper metabolism and health perspective. A clean and fresh water must be available on the basis of free-of-cost and easily accessible to the entire humanity. Government should take into account the legal actions towards making maximum water reservoirs, to save its purity for human consumption. Industrial sectors that use highly toxic chemicals which are disposed off into streams, lakes or rivers, causing harm to people using that fresh water in villages or rural areas. In Pakistan, even today, there are areas where pure water accessibility is so devastated that people have to pay for clean water, otherwise they will have to use the water full of industrial toxins coming in the form of tap water and poor families who are unable to purchase the cost suffer with dangerous health diseases caused by drinking impure water like hepatitis, tuberculosis, and tumors etc. Millions of people every year die with diseases caused by harmful effects of impure water.
Government authorities and WASA must take appropriate notice towards resolving this issue and supply clean water that is free of cost to every individual in the areas where people die every year due to unhygienic or insufficient water supply. It is the utmost responsibility of our government to provide safety measures for people living in areas close to industrial sectors with a more secured environment provided clean water initiatives to these specific areas for a better life there.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The response addresses the prompt by discussing whether water should be provided free of charge, presenting a clear viewpoint that governments should ensure free and clean access, particularly for vulnerable communities. The writer supports this position with relevant examples, such as the situation in Pakistan regarding industrial toxins and waterborne diseases like hepatitis and tuberculosis. However, the development of ideas leans heavily into a specific real-world example rather than fully exploring the broader economic and logistical implications of universal free water supplies, which prevents the essay from reaching higher band levels. Nevertheless, the main parts of the task are addressed, and a clear position is maintained throughout, aligning well with the descriptors for Band 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The essay has a recognizable overall structure with an introduction, a body paragraph focusing on the Pakistani context, and a concluding recommendation. However, paragraphing is problematic as the entire response is clumped into just two very long blocks of text, making the logical progression harder to follow. Cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or faulty, such as the abrupt transition in 'Industrial sectors that use highly toxic chemicals which are disposed off...', which forms an incomplete fragment rather than a fully integrated clause. Referencing and paragraph boundaries need to be much clearer to achieve a higher score. This performance fits comfortably within Band 5.0.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with attempts at less common items such as 'metabolism', 'toxic chemicals', and 'waterborne diseases' (though the latter is implied rather than fully stated). There are notable word choice and collocation errors throughout the text, such as 'A clean water' (incorrect article usage with an uncountable noun), 'free-of-cost' (awkward phrasing), and 'suffer with dangerous health diseases' (preposition error; usually 'suffer from'). Spelling is generally acceptable, but vocabulary limitations and awkward phrasings sometimes cause strain for the reader, placing the lexical performance at a solid Band 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar and punctuation is inconsistent. Frequent errors occur, particularly with sentence boundaries and fragment construction, such as the sentence starting with 'Industrial sectors that use highly toxic chemicals...' which lacks a main verb for the subject. Additionally, there are awkward phrasing choices like 'Millions of people every year die with diseases' instead of 'die of diseases', and missing articles or pluralization issues. These grammatical inaccuracies require some effort from the reader to interpret fully, which is characteristic of a Band 5.0 level.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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