Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-12

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)

A segment of population has opted to decrease their annual air travel frequency or to cease flying entirely. Although reducing air travel may have some environmental benefits, i disagree with that these benefits outweigh the disadvantages foe individuals and businesses.

One major disadvantage of avoiding air travel is that can increase travel congestion on road. When important people like prime minister or governments officials travel by road instead of flying their security vehicles and others cars occupy a large part of road, as result traffic may be extremely heavy, causing delaying for thousands of peoples, it also create difficulties for patients, and job holders. For example when prime minister travel by road, roads may block for security reason this can cause heavy traffic jam. This can waste fuel and also increase air pollution.

Air travel is convenient and fast, many companies sent their staff to other country for training if choose another source of travel, like car or train this take more time and money, but on the other hand if they prefer aircraft they reach easily and return same day.

For instance, a business who need to attend a important meeting in other country may not be able to reach on time if they travel by road.

On the other hand, flying less can reduce pollution because aircraft produce carbon emission. However i believe that people should avoid unnecessary flight instead of leave it permanently.

At conclusion, reducing air travel can help to safe environment, but it also cause traffic congestion, and create difficulties for businesses. Therefore i believe that the disadvantages can outweigh the environmental benefits if people completely stop flying.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by taking a clear position and discussing both the environmental benefits and the disadvantages for individuals and businesses. The student attempts to develop ideas, such as road congestion and business efficiency. However, some arguments lack depth and rely on slightly unusual examples, such as VIP road travel causing gridlock. While the main position is clear throughout, the support remains somewhat repetitive and under-developed, falling short of the depth required for a Band 7. Specifically, the explanation of business impacts in paragraph three could have been expanded with more realistic economic consequences rather than relying on brief assertions. Nevertheless, all components of the prompt are addressed, fulfilling the criteria for a solid Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear stance established in the introduction and reiterated in the conclusion. Paragraphing is utilised to separate distinct points, such as road congestion and business travel. However, cohesion at the sentence level is frequently faulty and mechanical. The student makes heavy use of run-on sentences and comma splices, for example in paragraph two: '...causing delaying for thousands of peoples, it also create difficulties...'. Furthermore, referencing is sometimes unclear, and cohesive devices are either omitted or inappropriately applied. Paragraph transitions feel abrupt, particularly between the second and third body paragraphs, which prevents the essay from achieving the smooth logical progression characteristic of Band 7.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to communicate basic ideas about environmental impacts and business convenience. However, there is a lack of precision and numerous word choice and form errors, such as 'safe environment' instead of 'save the environment', 'transport congestion' or 'travel congestion', and 'fore' instead of 'for'. Less common vocabulary is attempted with limited success, and collocation is occasionally unnatural ('air travel frequency', 'essential meeting'). Spelling and morphological errors ('peoples', 'emission') occur frequently enough to occasionally distract the reader, placing the response firmly at Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but control over grammar and punctuation is weak. The text is marred by frequent errors, including missing articles ('like car or train', 'in other country'), incorrect verb forms ('if choose', 'business who need'), and persistent capitalization errors (starting sentences or pronouns with lower-case letters, such as 'i disagree'). Punctuation is particularly problematic, featuring severe run-on sentences and comma splices that obscure sentence boundaries. While the meaning remains generally decipherable despite these issues, the high density of grammatical errors prevents the response from achieving a Band 6.0.

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