Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-14

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)

I agree that availability to clean water is a basic human right. Therefore every home should have a water supply that is provided free of charge.

Water have various uses: It used in the home e.g drinking, cooking, washing of clothes. Water is also used in the dams, industries and lot more. Water is a natural resource, which is being produced from the bottom part of the earth. During the olden days, people dug wells into the soil in order to get in contact with water, but the water which is being produced from this well are not clean enough as they contain whitish particles, making it not safe for human consumption. Advancement in technologies have made them invent boreholes, used in producing safer and better water for human consumption.

I believe that one basic thing people should have access to is clean water because it's being used in their everyday activities like drinking, cooking, bathing, washing. without the access to clean most of this activities won't be done, and drinking bad water can cause health problems like cholera, resulting in individuals visiting the hospital often. The supply of water is also limtless, it can't finish, so people are always going to have access to clean water everytime without thinking it's going to finish. For example an NGO intitaive in Nigeria discovered that people living in the karba community didn't have access to clean water, they do fetch water from the rivers, and this resulted in high amount of sickness, the NGO decided to create a borehole which has 10 different taps where people can fetch in the community.

However, there are some resources that still requires this water to be produced in large quantity and also make sure they are clean. Example is using fuel to pump the water for a long period of time, using filtration or chemicals to treat the water or make the water clean. Since this is going to cost a lot people tend to charge for water bills. But this can also be subsized by the government, so the less previledge can have basic access to clean water.

In conclusion, I believe that access to clean water water in homes should be provided free of charge since it's a natural resources. However, if the is going to the pumped for a long period of time or treated with chemicals, then i think a little amount should be charged.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear: you support free access to clean water, while acknowledging that treatment and pumping may justify a small charge. You address the main issue and give relevant support, especially the Nigeria community example and the health risks of unsafe water. This meets the task well overall. To make the argument more fully developed, explain more directly how your example supports free provision, and clarify whether you mean water itself should be free while infrastructure and treatment are publicly funded. The claim that water is “limitless” is too broad and weakens the reasoning; water is finite and clean, accessible supplies require management. The conclusion also introduces a qualification that could be reconciled more clearly with your opening position.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has identifiable paragraphs and a generally understandable sequence: uses and sources of water, reasons for access, costs, and a conclusion. Linking expressions such as “However,” “For example,” and “In conclusion” help signal these stages. However, progression is uneven: the opening paragraph gives background about wells and boreholes without clearly connecting it to the argument, and the paragraph about water being limitless interrupts the health-based reasoning. Some links are mechanical or unclear, particularly “However” before the discussion of production costs. Improve cohesion by giving each paragraph one clear purpose, using pronouns with unmistakable references, and connecting the example explicitly to your claim. The conclusion repeats earlier points rather than neatly resolving the tension between free access and a possible charge.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic vocabulary to discuss the issue, including “human consumption,” “filtration,” “chemicals,” “water bills,” and “basic access.” These terms make the subject clear, and the Nigeria example adds relevant specificity. However, the range is limited by repeated general words such as “water,” “clean,” and “people,” while several choices or forms are inaccurate: “availability to clean water,” “limtless,” “subsized,” and “previledge.” Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “get in contact with water” and “high amount of sickness.” Aim for more precise collocations and check spelling and word forms. For instance, “access to safe drinking water” and “a high incidence of illness” would express your ideas more naturally.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentences, including a relative clause in “a natural resource, which is being produced…” and a conditional structure in “if … treated with chemicals.” The main ideas are usually recoverable, but errors in agreement, verb forms, articles, and sentence boundaries occur often enough to affect fluency. Examples include “Water have various uses,” “It used in the home,” and “the water … are not clean enough.” The sentence beginning “without the access…” is not properly attached to the preceding sentence, and “the is going to the pumped” is difficult to parse. Practise checking each sentence for a subject and finite verb, and use full stops and capital letters consistently. More accurate control of these patterns would make your argument easier to follow.

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