Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-28
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 water supply is undeniably important to every household. It is a fact that it is the right of individuals to have access on clean water but I disagree that supply provided is free of charge.
First, some people will take advantage of free water system. It is evident that some individual wasting water from different activities, we can see it from countries that has scarcity from clean waters. For example, in the Philippines, there are some provinces that can only drink clean water if they buy mineral water. Moreover, clean water also is being wasted in terms of using it in watering plants daily, individual that takes a bath daily and a lot more.
Secondly, the machineries that is being used to supply water to different houses needs a maintenance which can only be achieved by having a budget. With that all being said, the government can charge a minimum charge for the clean water and can put a high limit in order to have another charge again. In this way, the people who use less water will pay lower bills.
It is empirical to have a clean water supply but the greediness of humanity is the problem. If only we consume the right amount of what we need then we can have free of the most things.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The response addresses the prompt by clearly stating a position of disagreement regarding whether water should be provided free of charge, supporting it with arguments about water wastage and maintenance costs. However, the task achievement is significantly constrained by the word count: the student's response contains only 220 words, falling short of the 250-word minimum requirement. Consequently, ideas such as the proposed tiered pricing system and human greediness are left somewhat underdeveloped and lack the extension expected for a higher band. While all parts of the prompt are addressed, the under-length penalty applies, resulting in a band score of 5.0.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The essay displays a clear overall structure with an introduction, two body paragraphs focusing on distinct arguments, and a brief conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate ideas. Cohesive devices such as 'First', 'Secondly', 'Moreover', and 'In this way' are employed to guide the reader through the text, although some referencing is slightly mechanical. For instance, the transition 'With that all being said' is a bit informal and repetitive. Logical progression is generally maintained between sentences, but the overall development is limited by the short length of the text. Overall, the organizational framework meets the descriptors for Band 6.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully using terms such as 'undeniably important', 'scarcity', 'maintenance', and 'empirical'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors throughout the response, such as 'access on clean water' instead of 'access to clean water', 'individual wasting water' where plural form is needed, and 'free of the most things'. Additionally, repetition of the phrase 'clean water' occurs frequently. While communication is not impeded and the student attempts less common vocabulary, the errors prevent the lexical score from reaching Band 6.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses and conditional structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors in subject-verb agreement and pluralisation, such as 'some individual wasting water', 'the machineries that is being used', and 'clean water also is being wasted'. Furthermore, punctuation and article usage show inconsistency throughout the text. These frequent errors in basic and moderately complex structures cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect a solid Band 5 level of grammatical accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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