Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-07

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

Flying has a big impact on the environment so people are flying less. I believe the environmental benefits are more important than the drawbacks.

The biggest benefit to reduce flying every year is :

Airplanes produce huge amount of CO2 and other toxic gases which cause global warming.

Reducing flying year will made a great impact on health issue such as low back pain, which is common seen in individual whose travel most .

In recent years climatic changes due to high ratio in air pollution which is eventually due to transportation method like flights and so on .

For example : if millions of people reduce flights, air quality will improve like it did in covid.

Disadvantages for individuals person or business person is

For individual, Is difficult to see family overseas. For businesses, tourism and airline will make less money .

If individual will reduce the number of flight takes every year it will take also positive impact on their pocket .

They can save easily along with compromising on their health.

For example : Countries like Thailand and dubai depend heavily on tourist who arrive by plane.

Although reducing flights cause problems for people and businesses person.

I think so that this will bring positive impact not only on environment but also an individual health. So i prefer to reduce a frequently fly every year .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the environmental benefits and the disadvantages for individuals and businesses. However, the development of ideas is limited. For instance, the claim that reducing flights helps with 'low back pain' is irrelevant and lacks logical connection to the topic. While the position is clear, the arguments are often underdeveloped or rely on overgeneralizations. The structure is somewhat fragmented, and the response would benefit from more detailed explanations and relevant examples to fully support the main points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, but the logical progression is weak. The use of cohesive devices is minimal and sometimes mechanical, such as the repetitive use of 'For example' and 'For individual'. Some sentences are disjointed, making the flow of ideas feel abrupt. Referencing is occasionally unclear, and the transition between the environmental benefits and the economic disadvantages is not smooth. Improved use of linking words and better paragraph structure would significantly enhance the coherence of the essay.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally basic and repetitive. There are instances of awkward phrasing, such as 'common seen in individual whose travel most' and 'business person'. While the meaning is generally conveyed, the range of vocabulary is limited, and there is a lack of precision in word choice. The student attempts to use some topic-specific vocabulary like 'global warming' and 'air quality', but overall, the lexical range is insufficient to demonstrate a higher level of proficiency.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains frequent grammatical errors, including issues with subject-verb agreement ('Reducing flying year will made'), article usage, and sentence structure. Many sentences are simple or contain errors that occasionally impede the flow of reading. While there is an attempt to use complex structures, they are often inaccurate. Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with the use of colons and capitalization. A greater focus on basic grammatical accuracy and sentence construction is required to reach a higher band.

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

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