Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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)

Nowadays, people have decided to reduce the number of times they fly every year or to stop flying. I believe reducing travel have both negative and positive aspects. I personally believe advantages may outweigh disadvantages.

One of the primary reasons why the people should reduce travelling abroad is because they can save money for their future aspects. This is mainly because travelling through flights frequently is a cost-consuming process. For instance, if a business owner takes air flights frequently without any planning, he might spend money wastefully. Another major reason that people must reduce flying is the air pollution emission by aeroplanes. In each year, there are so many incidents related to birds are reported due to crashing with aeroplanes and some are reported due to the air pollution. So for this, authorities are needed to develop eco-friendly ecosystem for flying planes in the air.

In contrast, reducing the number of times people fly have drawbacks that are needed to be considered. One of the major drawbacks if people reduce to take flights is the economic effect. If the people tend to decrease frequency of fly more frequently, airports might see downfall in the visitors. This is because most of the governments collect taxes from visitors travelling from the one destination to another. Another major reason that people should not reduce frequency of fly too much is tourism. Mostly countries often earn from tourism.

In conclusion, reducing the frequency of fly each year have both advantages and disadvantages. I personally believe, advantages may outweigh disadvantages due to the environmental benefits of them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You give a clear overall view that the environmental benefits outweigh the disadvantages, and you discuss both sides, including pollution, personal spending, tourism and airport revenue. However, the task asks you to weigh environmental benefits against disadvantages for individuals and businesses; the discussion of environmental benefits is brief, while the disadvantages are mainly about tourism and government income rather than businesses in detail. The bird-collision point is also not clearly explained or connected to the overall comparison. Your examples and reasons therefore remain limited and under-developed. The response contains 245 words, so it is five words below the required minimum; 17 words copied from the task prompt were not counted. Develop the environmental argument and explain more directly why its benefits outweigh the costs.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Signposting such as “In contrast” and “In conclusion” helps readers follow the broad direction. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear. For example, the point about bird incidents moves from collisions to air pollution without explaining how these relate, and “So for this” does not clearly connect the evidence to the recommendation. Repeated openings such as “One of the primary reasons” and “Another major reason” make the organisation feel formulaic. Some references, including “them” in the conclusion, are not fully clear. Use more precise links between each claim, explanation and example, and vary how you introduce supporting points.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “air pollution,” “aeroplanes,” “economic effect” and “tourism.” There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “primary reasons” and “frequency.” However, word choice and collocation are often inaccurate or repetitive, which limits precision. Phrases such as “cost-consuming process,” “future aspects,” “air pollution emission” and “downfall in the visitors” are not natural in this context. “Frequency of fly” is repeated and does not express the idea idiomatically. Choose common, accurate collocations before reaching for more elaborate wording—for example, describe flights as costly, refer to future needs or plans, and say that visitor numbers may decline.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including conditional structures such as “If a business owner takes air flights frequently … he might spend money wastefully.” This shows some range, and the main message is generally understandable. However, errors recur in verb agreement, forms and sentence construction. Examples include “reducing travel have,” “reducing the number of times people fly have drawbacks,” and “frequency of fly”; these should be revised for agreement and grammatical form. The sentence beginning “In each year” also has an unclear construction around incidents “related to birds.” Commas are sometimes misplaced, as in “I personally believe, advantages may outweigh disadvantages.” Check subject–verb agreement, use a consistent grammatical form after “frequency,” and proofread sentence boundaries and punctuation.

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.