Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-03
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)
It is fundamental human rights to get acces to clean water, therefore water supply should be free to every house. I disagree with this statement because it will result in more wasteage of water and require minimal fee to maintain the infrastructure such as large machine to pumb water to all houses
One of the main reason, government should not make it free for public is because resources which are avaiable freely to public, people won't give much value to it. They may end up using clean water not only for drinking purpose but for other use cases which result in people who need it may find it difficult to get it. There are many states in india where people struggle to get a clean water for their survial espeacially in summar. For example, People leave the tap open and don't even bother to close it which may result in wastage of water. if state start charging for consumption of water they will be more responsible
Another reason is cost of maintaining the infrastructure. A large motor is used to pumb clean water to all the houses. It consumes electricy and a maintaince fee. A backup generator is required in case of main electricity get cut off. For example, people who lives in faridabad, have to pay to minimal fee to maintain the machine otherwise, resident won't able to get water in case if machine havin
In conclusion, Getting clean water is basic human right for every residents but it should be free as public will start overusing and there is cost for infrastructure
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The response addresses all parts of the prompt by stating a clear position of disagreement with the idea of free water and supporting it with relevant arguments, such as the risk of wastage and the need for infrastructure maintenance. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat uneven. While the point regarding water wastage is illustrated with an example about people leaving taps open, the explanation remains slightly limited and relies on generalisations. The conclusion also contains a slight contradiction by stating in the final sentence that clean water should be free, which slightly muddies the clarity of the overall position. To move up, the writer needs to ensure all supporting points are fully elaborated with consistent stance and deeper explanations throughout.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. There is some attempt at logical organisation, moving from the psychological value of water and wastage to infrastructure costs. However, progression is sometimes disrupted by mechanical or faulty cohesion, such as abrupt transitions between sentences and under-developed linking phrases. Referencing is occasionally unclear, and paragraphing is hindered by unfinished concluding thoughts, such as the final sentence trailing off mid-word ("havin"). To achieve a higher level, the writer must employ a smoother, more natural range of cohesive devices and ensure that each paragraph builds logically and comprehensively towards a unified argument.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items and topic-related terms such as "infrastructure," "consumption," and "generator." However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including "acces," "wasteage," "avaiable," "survial," "espeacially," and "electricy." Collocations are sometimes awkward, such as "drinking purpose" instead of "drinking purposes." While these lexical inaccuracies do not completely impede communication, they restrict the score because they recur frequently. To improve, the writer needs to expand control over word forms, ensure accurate spelling, and refine word choices for better precision.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, but control over grammar is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in basic structures, such as missing articles ("It is fundamental human rights," "get a clean water"), pluralisation issues ("resident won't able"), and subject-verb agreement ("government should not make it free," "resources which are avaiable... people won't give"). Punctuation and sentence boundaries are also weak, leading to run-on sentences and a truncated final sentence. These errors require some effort from the reader to decode meaning. To progress, the writer should focus on mastering fundamental grammatical patterns, article usage, and ensuring that complex sentence attempts are constructed accurately.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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