Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-04

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 6.0)

Some people have decided to reduce how often they fly or stop flying altogether because of the environment. This essay will determine if the environment benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

In recent years, the environment has undergo various changes when compared to the past, from pollution to the air from manufacturing industries to land devastation. All this are increasing concern for the climate.

There are advantages to reduction of flying or stop flying altogether because during a flight, the airplane releases pollution which affect the air but if flight is reduce, it will reduce the emissions of gas. If individuals opt to use buses or trains or attend business meetings that don't necessary require physical presents to online meetings. Air quality will improve and this will help in the climate long term.

However, despite the advantages that this offer, there are drawbacks to not flying. For individuals that need to travel a long distance especially between different continents, other forms of transportation such as trains or buses will not get them to their destinations. While ship is a good alternative, it still wouldn't get someone to their destinations fast enough, flying from one countries regardless of continent can't take days but with ship, the journey can last up to a month. For example when I travel from my country to another country for school, which was on a different continent, the journey took me a day because of layovers but despite that, it was still fast.

Despite the advantages that lack of flight offers in terms of climate change, I believe the drawbacks are to significant to stop flying altogether. Instead flight should be reserve shop be reserve for travelling between countries or inter-country travels that last hours on the road.

In conclusion, I believe that stopping flying altogether is not beneficial long term.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the environmental benefits and the disadvantages for individuals and businesses. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention pollution and the necessity of travel, the arguments regarding business impacts are underdeveloped. You state that meetings can be held online, but you do not fully explore the economic consequences for the aviation industry or global trade. The position is clear throughout, but the supporting examples, such as your personal travel experience, are a bit anecdotal and could be more effectively linked to the broader economic arguments required by the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear introduction and conclusion. However, the use of cohesive devices is sometimes mechanical or repetitive. For instance, the transition 'Despite the advantages that this offer' is slightly awkward, and the flow between sentences in the second paragraph is hindered by grammatical slips. Referencing is generally clear, but the progression of ideas could be smoother. The use of linking words like 'however' and 'in conclusion' is appropriate, but more varied cohesive devices would help improve the overall flow and logical connection between your arguments.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'devastation', 'emissions', and 'inter-country'. However, there are several instances of word-choice errors and awkward collocations, such as 'physical presents' (should be 'presence'), 'flight is reduce' (should be 'reduced'), and 'too significant' (should be 'too significant'). These errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the precision of your writing. To reach a higher band, you should focus on using more sophisticated vocabulary and ensuring that word forms are used correctly in context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors that detract from the quality of the writing. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('All this are increasing', 'flight is reduce'), incorrect verb tenses ('has undergo'), and punctuation/spelling errors ('one countries'). While you attempt complex sentences, the control over these structures is inconsistent. To improve, you should pay closer attention to basic grammatical rules, particularly verb forms and pluralisation, as these errors occur frequently enough to be noticeable throughout the text.

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

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