Band 8.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 8.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-01

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 8.5)

Access to clean water is widely regarded as a fundamental human right, yet the question of whether residential water supply should be provided entirely free of charge remains contentious. While I acknowledge the moral imperative to ensure universal access, I largely disagree that making water completely free is the most effective or sustainable policy approach.

Proponents of free water supply argue that denying individuals access to clean water on financial grounds is unconscionable, particularly in lower-income communities where water poverty disproportionately affects the most vulnerable members of society. There is considerable merit in this position — research conducted across several developing nations demonstrates that communities lacking affordable water access suffer significantly higher rates of waterborne disease, ultimately placing greater financial burden on public healthcare systems than subsidised water provision would require.

Nevertheless, implementing a completely free water supply carries substantial practical drawbacks that its advocates frequently overlook. Water infrastructure — including treatment facilities, distribution networks, and maintenance operations — requires considerable and continuous financial investment. Without revenue generated through user charges, governments would need to divert significant funding from other essential public services such as education and healthcare. Furthermore, economic research consistently demonstrates that zero-cost resources tend to encourage overconsumption and waste, potentially exacerbating the very water scarcity that such a policy seeks to address.

A more balanced approach would involve providing a guaranteed minimum allocation of clean water free of charge to every household, sufficient to meet basic health and sanitation needs, while charging standard or premium rates for consumption beyond this threshold. This model — successfully implemented in South Africa — ensures universal access without eliminating the financial incentives necessary to sustain infrastructure and discourage waste.

In conclusion, while clean water is unquestionably a human right, making it entirely free risks creating unsustainable fiscal and environmental consequences. A tiered pricing model represents a more equitable and practical solution.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 8.5

Your response covers all parts of the task thoroughly and presents a well-developed, highly nuanced position. You immediately establish a clear standpoint in the introduction — acknowledging the moral argument while disagreeing with a fully free supply — and maintain this focus throughout. Your ideas are extended and supported with relevant logic, such as discussing the economic and infrastructural realities of water management and referencing developing nations. To push into the highest band, your arguments could benefit from even greater depth or slightly more specific empirical examples, such as exploring the exact economic trade-offs of tiered pricing models in diverse geographic contexts. However, your treatment of the prompt is sophisticated, engaging fully with the complexities of rights versus sustainability.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 8.0

Your essay demonstrates a clear, logical progression of ideas from the introduction through well-structured body paragraphs to a concise conclusion. You manage all aspects of cohesion skillfully, using cohesive devices such as 'While I acknowledge', 'Nevertheless', and 'Furthermore' naturally without them ever feeling mechanical or obtrusive. Paragraphing is used appropriately and sufficiently, with each paragraph focusing on a distinct facet of the argument — the pro-free water perspective, the counterarguments regarding infrastructure and waste, and finally your proposed compromise. Referencing throughout the text is clear and precise. To achieve the absolute top band, paragraph transitions could be even more seamless, though your current organizational framework is already robust and highly effective.

Lexical Resource: Band 8.5

You display a wide, fluent, and flexible vocabulary range that allows for precise expression. You utilize less common and academic lexical items skillfully, such as 'moral imperative', 'unconscionable', 'water poverty', 'infrastructural', and 'tiered pricing model'. Word choice and collocations are managed very well, with only occasional minor slips. Your phrasing sounds natural and sophisticated, accurately conveying complex economic and social concepts. To attain the highest band, you could incorporate even more idiomatic or highly nuanced academic collocations, but your current lexical control is already impressive and completely appropriate for a high-level academic essay.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 8.5

Your essay exhibits a wide range of complex sentence structures, featuring subordinate clauses, participial phrases, and conditional ideas deployed with high accuracy. The majority of your sentences are entirely error-free, reflecting a strong command of grammar and punctuation. Structures such as 'While research conducted across several developing nations demonstrates that...' and 'A more balanced approach would involve providing...' display excellent syntactic flexibility. You demonstrate a firm grasp of subject-verb agreement, tense consistency, and prepositional use within complex patterns. To reach the absolute pinnacle of grammatical performance, you would need to eliminate every single trace of minor inappropriacy, but your grammar is already exceptionally polished and reliable.

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