Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-05

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 7.0)

Clean water is a necessity, which should be accessible to all human beings at their homes, regardless of their status. I firmly agree with this point, not having access to fresh water should be considered as a human rights violation.

Governments argue that clean water supply requires good infrastructure. This infrastructure ofcourse comes at a significant costs and therefore politicians argue that a water supply fee and tax should be levied. For example, in Pakistan all households are required to pay a monthly mantainence charge to the local water board for access to water. Furthermore, the government claims that all underground water is their property and will be provided with a service charge. These charges will be used to purify water and provide clean water to all houses. While the governments' claims may have some substance, these charges can be covered in other forms of taxes applied on the citizens of their country. They may increase the tax on fuel to cover the water charges.

Lack of access to clean water can lead to multiple diseases within people and ultimately lead to the death of individuals. The spread of chronic diseases is also proven to be linked with with unhygienic water. For example, in African countires it is widely reported that hundreds of children die each year due to not having access to clean water. In the rural areas of South Asia, people have to travel many kilometres on foot just to fill up their bottles with clean water. There is a lot of difficulty in these undeveloped areas just to access a basic need such as water. That is why it is widely argued that clean water should be provided to even those people who are unable to afford it.

In conclusion, while governments' may have to spend large amounts of money on water pipeline infrastructure, having access to water is a matter of life an death, between which money should not be a problem. Governments should find alternate forms of taxation where they can tax the more priviliged to provide a basic necessity such as water.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.5

The response addresses all parts of the task with a clear position throughout, as seen in the opening statement 'I firmly agree with this point'. The ideas are extended and supported with relevant examples, such as the mention of Pakistan's monthly maintenance charges and the situation in African and South Asian rural areas. However, there is a slight tendency to over-generalise regarding government taxation policies and regional water scarcity, which is characteristic of this level. To reach a higher band, the development of ideas would need to be more thoroughly nuanced and consistently supported without broad generalizations.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

There is a clear logical organisation and progression throughout the essay. Each paragraph has a distinct focus, moving smoothly from the introduction and government infrastructure arguments to health consequences and a concluding summary. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well, such as 'Furthermore', 'While the governments' claims', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and transitions are at times slightly mechanical rather than entirely fluid. To move further up the scale, the writer would need to employ even more sophisticated and subtle cohesive relationships between paragraphs and ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

The student uses a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow some flexibility and precision, incorporating less common items such as 'infrastructure', 'violation', 'unhygienic', and 'priviliged'. However, there are some lexical errors and spelling mistakes, such as 'mantainence' instead of maintenance, 'countires' instead of countries, and 'governments'' with misplaced apostrophes. Word choice is generally adequate to convey the message, but occasional inaccuracies in collocation prevent the lexical score from being higher. To achieve a higher band, the vocabulary would need to demonstrate greater precision, flawless spelling, and a more natural control of less common lexical items.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing structures like conditional and concessive clauses effectively ('While the governments' claims may have some substance, these charges can be covered...'). There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, such as 'significant costs' missing a plural or article, 'governments'' apostrophe placement, and minor prepositions issues like 'linked with with'. Nevertheless, these errors are relatively infrequent and rarely impede communication, showcasing a solid control of grammar that meets the criteria for this band. To reach the next level, the majority of sentences would need to be entirely error-free alongside a wider variety of sophisticated structures.

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

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