Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-11
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)
People have commited themselves that they will fly less number of times which has contributed to cleaner environment. In my opinion, I completely agree with the decision because as population grew rapidly, additional flying routes are introduced. As a result, pollution in the environment increases.
People who decides to reduce there travel tickets are contributing to less environmental damage. Planes are almost the biggest carbon emission travelling medium, as they consume alot of fuel, question arises in there sustainibility. Futhermore, planes also produce noise pollution, which hampers the peace of wildlife and the people. On top of it, planes carry ahuge number of passengers, if any casaulties happen it may have a severe affect on lives. People who prefer to not travel in plane they are helping to get the envionment clean in a broader spectrum.
While refusing to travel in planes have environmental advantages, on the other hand, businesses and individuals may suffer from delay in there official works, which can low the market capital. Companies may lack in productivity and management skills. While, the environmental benifits can compentiate the lack in productivity. A cleaner environment leads to less demand of leaves from the employees. A freasher envionment can lead to high efficient work.
Avoiding planes for travel can have both advantage and disadvantage, but the pros of environmental benefits can overshadow the downside of individuals and businesses. In my view, a better environment makes the vurnability of diseases towards individual less common, ultimately, people can perform better in there daily tasks.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by discussing the environmental benefits of reduced flying and acknowledging the disadvantages for businesses and individuals. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. For instance, the argument regarding 'market capital' and 'productivity' is vague and lacks specific examples or logical depth. While the position is clear throughout, the supporting points are repetitive, particularly the focus on general environmental health. To reach a higher band, you should provide more concrete examples of how businesses are specifically impacted by reduced air travel and expand on the counter-arguments with more sophisticated reasoning.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a central focus. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Furthermore,' 'While,' and 'On top of it,' though some transitions feel mechanical or slightly unnatural. The progression of ideas is generally clear, but the referencing is occasionally imprecise, such as in the second paragraph where the connection between 'casualties' and 'environmental benefits' is disjointed. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, body, and conclusion, which helps the reader follow the argument despite the lack of sophisticated linking.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. There are several instances of awkward phrasing and word-choice errors, such as 'commited themselves that they will fly less number of times' and 'vurnability of diseases.' Spelling errors are also frequent, including 'alot,' 'sustainibility,' 'Futhermore,' 'ahuge,' 'casaulties,' 'benifits,' 'compentiate,' 'freasher,' and 'vurnability.' These errors occasionally distract the reader. To improve, you should focus on learning correct collocations and proofreading for common spelling mistakes to ensure your vocabulary range is used more accurately.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there is a high frequency of grammatical errors. Issues include subject-verb agreement ('People who decides'), incorrect pronoun usage ('there' instead of 'their'), and awkward sentence construction ('People who prefer to not travel in plane they are helping'). Punctuation is generally functional, but the frequency of errors in basic grammar and sentence structure prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. While the meaning is usually clear, the persistent errors require the reader to work harder to interpret the intended message.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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