Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-16

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)

Clean water is a basic human right and access to clean water should be free of cost for fulfilling basic human necessities in every home.

In my opinion, I agree that clean water supply should be provided to every home for free. However, it should be limited to some extent therefore no one uses it harmfully.

Providing clean water can help humans globally if this decision is taken precisely and accordingly looking at needs of every human being. Most of the world population can not even afford clean water for basic necessities and therefore there are so many people suffering with health issues and facing complications in daily life. By providing free clean water to everyone can facilitate all these people in need.

Whereas the disadvantages of free water supply can be a big waste of clean water resources globally due to many people being inconsiderant about using the water. Wasting water can give rise to many other issues such as global warming and forests being dried out. Animals and marine animals suffer most from such conditions

So, Considering the water supply free of cost but marginal to a limit so people realise the value of water. This can improve the situations of world and resolve so many issues with low income families and economically vulnerable population. A case in point is cities in Pakistan do not even have any water resources making the unprivileged communities rest in peace. Therefore it should be provided free to people in need.

To sum up, I believe that keeping everything to limited control on a balance of keeping the water supply free of costs and charges on additional uses for wealthy individuals.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you agree that households should receive clean water without charge, while proposing limits to discourage waste. You address both the benefits and a possible drawback, and the points about health and low-income communities are relevant. However, some ideas are not fully explained. For example, you claim that water waste can contribute to global warming and forests drying out, but do not show how these effects follow. The Pakistan example is also unclear: “making the unprivileged communities rest in peace” does not explain the water problem or support your argument. Develop the distinction between a free basic allowance and charges for excessive use, and use a specific, clearly explained example to strengthen your case.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, paragraphs on benefits and drawbacks, and a conclusion. This gives the reader an overall route through your argument. However, progression within and between paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow. “Whereas” begins a paragraph without a clear contrastive sentence structure, and “So, Considering…” introduces the conclusion awkwardly. Some links are also mechanical or unclear, such as “therefore” appearing repeatedly, while “this decision” and “this” do not always identify a precise idea. Improve the flow by giving each paragraph one clear purpose, linking claims to explanations, and using referencing that makes the connection between ideas explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “basic human right,” “health issues,” “water resources,” and “economically vulnerable population.” These choices show an adequate range for discussing access and affordability. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, which makes some points unclear: “free of cost,” “inconsiderant,” and “rest in peace” are examples. “Global warming” and “forests being dried out” are also used without precise explanation. Aim for natural, specific phrasing and check spelling and word forms. More accurate expressions for water access, conservation, and household affordability would help you communicate your ideas with greater precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a conditional idea in “if this decision is taken…” and a contrast between benefits and disadvantages. The main argument is generally understandable, but some grammatical errors affect clarity. For example, “By providing free clean water to everyone can facilitate…” has no clear grammatical subject; write “Providing free clean water to everyone can facilitate…”. In “So, Considering the water supply free of cost but marginal to a limit,” the sentence is incomplete and the capitalisation after the comma is incorrect. There are also issues with sentence boundaries and punctuation, such as the missing full stop after “conditions.” Review clause structure and make sure each sentence has a complete main clause.

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

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