Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-11-06

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people have decided to reduce the number of times they fly every year or to stop flying altogether.

Do you think the environmental benefits of this development outweigh the disadvantages for individuals and businesses?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

certain individuals are flying less and less every year, or stopped flying compeletly due to the environmental damages flying can have. While this helps the environment we cannot oversee the businesses and individual advantages for flying.

Flying has caused many environmental damages such as more air pollution. This is something that has to be taken seriously. Environmental damages ruin the environment for many animals. For example some animal`s cannot survive as long as in the past due to the fact that the earth`s weather has been changing a lot recently. This is only one of the environmental damage causes. Humans trying to boycutt flying does have an positive effect on the environment and can help certain animals survive better, by reducing the carbon dixoxide and air pollution.

Although boycutting flying is beneficial for the environment, we cannot oversee the benefit of flying, Humans need to travel. for instance many travel from university back home to see family, if there were a decrease in flying certain airplane businesses might not be able to afford having many flights or they might increase their tickets to maintain the business, which can cause many students and such to not be able to travel

So even though there are disadvantages to flying I do not believe that they outweigh the advantages like being able to go university or see family.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address both sides of the question and give a clear overall view: you acknowledge environmental benefits but argue that flying remains important for travel and family visits. The examples about students travelling home and airlines potentially raising fares are relevant. However, the response only partially develops the comparison asked for. The environmental discussion focuses mainly on pollution and animals, while the disadvantages of reducing flights are illustrated with one brief scenario; the effects on businesses are not explored beyond possible fare increases or fewer flights. Your conclusion repeats your position rather than weighing the two sides in detail. The response is also 25 words below the required minimum. Develop both sides with specific consequences and explain more directly why one outweighs the other.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on environmental effects, a paragraph on the benefits of flying, and a concluding opinion. Linking expressions such as “For example,” “Although,” and “So even though” help signal the direction of the argument. This makes the main line of reasoning understandable. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes loose: the discussion of animal survival is repeated in general terms, and the shift from environmental benefits to the needs of students could be more clearly connected to the question’s comparison. Some transitions feel mechanical, and the final paragraph is very brief. Use clearer topic sentences and develop each paragraph around one main point, with explicit links between evidence and your judgement.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “air pollution,” “carbon dioxide,” “environment,” “flights,” and “businesses.” There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “beneficial for the environment” and “maintain the business.” However, the range is limited and several words or phrases are repeated, particularly “environmental damages,” “flying,” and “benefit.” Some choices are inaccurate or unnatural, including “boycutt/boycutting flying,” “oversee the benefit,” and “environmental damage causes”; spelling errors such as “compeletly” and “dixoxide” also reduce precision. Build a wider set of accurate expressions for emissions, reduced demand, airline revenue, and access to travel, and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a concession clause beginning “Although” and a conditional structure about what might happen if flying decreased. These attempts help express contrast and possible consequences. However, some sentences contain errors in agreement, articles, verb forms, and punctuation. For example, “an positive effect” should use the correct article, and “if there were a decrease … businesses might not be able” needs consistent, controlled phrasing. There are also sentence-boundary problems, such as “Humans need to travel. for instance,” and inconsistent capitalisation after full stops. These errors do not prevent the reader from following your main meaning, but they make the writing less controlled. Practise accurate complex sentences and proofread for sentence boundaries and agreement.

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

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