Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-08-26

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)

In a recent period, overseas tourism become common. Generally people visit foreign countries during holidays to explore new environment. As its costs a lot of money and over visits towards other countries affects environment badly. Now some proponents decided to avoid frequently fly every year. From my perspective, it will be beneficial for atmosphere as it will harm business. I strongly believe the environmental benefits outweigh the disadvantages for businesses.

The primary reason of it is to have safe and better atmosphere. Frequent flights create over polluted atmosphere which can cause life-threatening conditions such as: asthma, COPD, allergies. If the number of flights will reduce, it will help to reduce pollution from environment. Consequently, will reduce risk of serious diseases. For instance, currently there are multiple flights everyday, which cause more combustion of fuel and polluted air. If rate of flights will reduce, it will mitigate the side effects of fuel combustion.

On the other hand, this act will bring few disadvantages. As now people do business with other foreign countries. If number of flights reduce it will effect income of various export industries. For instance, Pakistan export rice in USA, Dubai, South Africa for those deals businessman travel from one country to another country to do meetings and finalize deals. When number of visits reduce towards foreign countries export companies will face challenges.

In conclusion, as there are benefits as well as drawbacks of reducing number of flights. I think drawbacks can be manage by using alternatives ways to do meetings such as: online meetings can be arranged on social media ( Zoom, Twitter, Whats app). In contrast environmental damage can only be reduce by decreasing number of flights. That's why i strongly believe that the pros of dipping fly outweigh the cons for businesses.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, providing a clear position that the environmental benefits outweigh the disadvantages. The ideas are relevant, such as the health impacts of pollution and the economic implications for export industries. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For example, the explanation of how reducing flights impacts business is a bit simplistic, and the link between 'combustion of fuel' and specific diseases could be more nuanced. While the position is consistent throughout, the supporting arguments would benefit from more depth and specific examples to reach a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. There is a progression of ideas from the introduction to the conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'consequently', 'for instance', and 'on the other hand', though some are used in a slightly mechanical or repetitive way. Referencing is generally clear, but there are instances where the flow between sentences feels a bit disjointed. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different aspects of the argument, which helps the reader follow the writer's line of reasoning.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express their ideas clearly. There are some attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'mitigate' and 'combustion'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'over visits towards other countries', 'dipping fly', and 'over polluted atmosphere'. These errors do not impede communication, but they do show a lack of precision. Expanding the range of collocations and refining word choice would significantly improve the quality of the writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('overseas tourism become common', 'costs a lot of money and over visits... affects'), missing articles, and awkward phrasing ('If rate of flights will reduce'). Punctuation is generally functional, but the control over complex structures is inconsistent. The errors are noticeable and occur frequently, though they rarely prevent the reader from understanding the intended message.

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