Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-06
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 a basic need for every human to survive. As 71% of our body contains water, for a healthy body and mind we need clear water to work properly. Drinking clean water helps the human body to digest the food, control body temperature and to stay hydrated. Every house should have a clear water supply which they use for drinking, cooking, cleaning and washing.
People are paying for clean water. Every district has a different price which they are being charged. Water is a basic need and it should be free of charge. The government should take precautionary measures to provide clean water to every single home in the country.
For an example, in our area tab water is not safe to drink, water coming from tabs contains harmful bacteria. We use the water for cleaning and washing but not for drinking. We are paying for this water and for clean drinking water we had to pay extra to our water supplier.
We are paying twice to both the government and the local supplier.
In some areas, people even don't have the tab water coming regularly, they have specific time slots when the water is coming. Which is totally wrong.
I totally agree that every home should have a clean water supply which is provided free of charge so people can drink as well as use the same water for every day use.
It is a basic human need and we should not be paying for our basic rights.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The response addresses all parts of the task by presenting a clear position that clean water should be free of charge, supported by relevant personal experiences regarding household water quality and double-billing. However, some ideas remain under-developed or simplistic. For instance, the discussion on government responsibility and district pricing is introduced but not fully extended into a broader socioeconomic argument. While the main stance is maintained throughout, the reasoning relies heavily on personal anecdote rather than deeper elaboration, which places this aspect of the writing firmly in the middle category.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear central stance stated at the beginning and reaffirmed at the end. However, the organisation suffers from an over-reliance on very short, fragmented paragraphs, such as 'We are paying twice to both the government and the local supplier.' Cohesive devices are sometimes basic, repetitive, or mechanically deployed, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun use in 'Which is totally wrong.' Progression between ideas is disjointed in places, preventing a smoother, more logical flow throughout the response.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used provides an adequate range for the task, successfully communicating everyday concepts surrounding water supply and household expenses with terms like 'precautionary measures' and 'water supplier'. The writer attempts less common vocabulary, but this is sometimes accompanied by word-choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'tab water' instead of 'tap water' and 'clear water' instead of 'clean water'. Nevertheless, these lexical slips and spelling errors do not impede overall communication.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The text demonstrates a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, though attempts at complex structures are occasionally faulty, as seen in the sentence fragment 'Which is totally wrong.' There are some errors in grammar, punctuation, and articles throughout the text, such as missing articles ('For an example', 'at specific time slots') and prepositional misuse. However, these grammatical errors rarely impede communication and do not obscure the writer's core message.
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