Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-11
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)
A considerable proportion of individuals argue that access to clean water is a basic human right. Therefore, every home should have a water supply without payment. As far as I am concerned, there should be a free water supply for every individual because water is a basic need of humans. However, it is a natural resource by nature, so it should not be costly.
One major factor is that purified water is significantly important for the human body. Clean water helps to prevent diseases, and it will maintain good hygiene. If water is not clean or is not purified. Consequently, it can be harmful to inhabitants, and their lives will be compromised. Another significant reason is that everyone is not able to afford water in their daily routine for drinking, cooking, bathing, and cleaning because it can be costly or unaffordable, and it can affect their financial situation.
On the other hand, if water is free for everyone, then people may waste the water. All governments should do that limit free water and charge for excessive use, so automatically people will not waste it and use water with care. Another rule can be implemented so that the authorities can charge the maintenance costs, such as for pipelines, treatment plants, and other facilities that need regular maintenance.
Taking everything into account, I would say that water is a basic need for human life, and it should not be charged. Nevertheless, authorities should make a policy that the basic water limit will not be charged, but excessive amount of use will be charge.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
Your position is clear: you support free access to a basic amount of water, while accepting charges for excessive use and maintenance. You give relevant reasons, including health, hygiene, affordability and preventing waste. However, several points are asserted rather than explained—for example, you say water is a natural resource and “should not be costly” without showing why this means household supply should be free. The proposed limits and maintenance charges also need clearer detail to reconcile them with your position. The response is 244 words, six words below the 250-word minimum; the 17 words copied from the task prompt are not counted. Develop each main reason with a specific explanation or example, and make the distinction between a free basic supply and paid services explicit throughout.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, reasons supporting free water, a counterargument and conclusion. Transitions such as “On the other hand” and “Taking everything into account” help signal these stages. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear or mechanical. For instance, “If water is not clean or is not purified. Consequently…” breaks one idea into an incomplete sentence, and “All governments should do that limit free water” makes the relationship between the proposal and its result difficult to follow. The conclusion repeats the main position but does not fully resolve how free provision and maintenance charges would work together. Use clearer links between cause and result, and organise each paragraph around one developed point.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “purified water,” “hygiene,” “financial situation,” “pipelines” and “treatment plants,” which helps communicate the subject. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “a considerable proportion” and “taking everything into account.” However, some expressions are repetitive or imprecise, including repeated uses of “water,” “free” and “costly.” Several collocations are awkward: “water is a basic need of humans,” “excessive amount of use” and “charge the maintenance costs.” These choices do not prevent the reader from understanding the main argument, but they limit precision and naturalness. Build a wider range of accurate phrases for water provision, affordability and consumption, and check that word combinations sound natural.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including conditional structures such as “if water is free for everyone” and clauses explaining effects. The main ideas are generally understandable, but errors recur and sometimes interrupt the flow. “If water is not clean or is not purified.” is an incomplete sentence, while “All governments should do that limit free water” has an incorrect clause structure. The final sentence also needs correction: “excessive amount of use will be charge” has problems with the article, noun phrase and passive verb form. There is some control of basic sentence patterns, but complex constructions are not consistently accurate. Practise complete conditional sentences and review passive forms, agreement and punctuation when joining clauses.
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