Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-17

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 an essential component for all living organisms. Therefore access to purified water should be free of cost in every household because clean water is the fundamental requirement for humans. From my opinion

On the one hand, I am completely convinced that every residential property should have an access to non-contaminated water because it resolves many root causes which stem from contaminated water. For Instance if there is an area where access to purified water is limited and individuals in those areas are consuming dirty water, they will eventually become ill due to lack of approach to clean water supply. This is due to poverty in those areas that people cannot afford the fundamental necessity for themselves. Therefore there should be a legislation for those residential areas where individuals can't have an access to purified water due to the cost.

On the other hand, I would say that water is a limited natural resource so by providing complete access of water supply which is also free of cost to whole nation will lead to exploitation of purified water. Therefore, there should be a policy to regulate the management of water supply by charging every household according to their background. The thing is by doing this will make the individuals be responsible for their own actions and they will not exploit the resource.

Having said that, access to clean water is an important fact to be address because in small towns people are really suffering with diseases which stems from consuming dirty water. Water which is incorporated with germs often lead to rare diseases which are hard to cure because somtimes its symptoms appear later in life.

To sum up I believe there should be a significant role of governments in this regard to strike a balance between poorly and elite class of individuals.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the question by discussing both free provision and the risk of overuse, and your conclusion calls for government action to balance the needs of poorer and wealthier people. The examples about illness from contaminated water are relevant and help explain why access matters. However, your position is not fully clear: you begin by supporting free water for every home, then argue that households should be charged according to their background, without explaining precisely what arrangement you ultimately support. The discussion of charging and conservation is also less developed than the health argument. State your position consistently and explain how a targeted subsidy or basic free allowance could protect access while discouraging waste.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two contrasting body paragraphs and a conclusion. Linking phrases such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “To sum up” make the broad direction easy to follow. However, progression is weakened by the unclear relationship between your opening support for free water and your later proposal to charge households. The final body paragraph repeats the health point rather than adding a distinct step to the argument, and the conclusion does not resolve the contrast. Some connections are also awkward, for example “Having said that” introduces a point that largely repeats earlier material. Organise the paragraphs around a consistent position and use each one to develop a separate reason.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of topic vocabulary, including “contaminated water,” “limited natural resource,” “exploitation,” and “regulate the management of water supply.” These choices show an attempt to discuss the issue beyond basic terms, and the meaning is generally understandable. Some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, however, such as “access to purified water,” “lack of approach to clean water supply,” and “water which is incorporated with germs.” There are also spelling and form slips, including “somtimes” and “elite class.” Aim for more natural combinations and precise terms: for example, “access to a safe water supply,” “cannot afford clean water,” and “water contaminated with pathogens.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional and causal structures such as “if there is an area…” and “because…”. This gives the response some variety, and the main ideas can usually be understood. However, errors in sentence construction and agreement recur. “From my opinion” is an incomplete opening, while “by doing this will make the individuals be responsible” has an incorrect structure. In “Water which is incorporated with germs often lead,” the subject–verb agreement is faulty, and several sentences need clearer punctuation, such as the example beginning “For Instance if…”. Practise building complete clauses and checking agreement, articles and punctuation; these corrections would make your argument easier to read without changing its ideas.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.