Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-14
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 recent year, many people have chosen to reduce air travel or stop flying altogether because of environment concern. Although this decide may create difficulties for individuals and businesses. I believe that its environment benefits outweigh the disadvantage, perticularly in the long term.
The main advantage of reducing air travel is that it can help to lower carbon emission. Airplanes consume large amounts of fuel, which contributes to global warming and climate change. Fewer peopke fly, the demand for flights may decrease, enocurgaes airline to reduce their oprations and invest in more environmentally friendly technologies. This could help to protect the planet for future generation, Moreorever, less air travel can reduce less noise pollution around airports ans support cleaner air in nearby communties. Therefore, reducing innecessary flights is a practical srep towards a more sustainable future.
On the other hand, reducing flights can create several disadvantages for individuals. Air travel is often the fastest and most convenient way to visit distant countries. People may find it difficult to meet relatives living abroad, explore new culture or attend important international events. In addition, travelling by train or bus may take considerabley longer, especially when crossing bordrs. On the contrary, businesses may also face financial and oprationak dificulties. many companies depend on air travel for international meetings, business negotiations and trade. Employees cannot travel easily, some bussinesses may lose valuable oppoetunities to build relationship with overseas clients.
In conclusion, reducinf air travel may cause inconvience for individuals and financila challenges for buinesses. I believe that the long term environmental benefit, including lower carbon emissions and better protection of natural resorces, are more important.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both the environmental benefits and the disadvantages for individuals and businesses, while maintaining a clear, consistent position throughout. The introduction establishes your viewpoint clearly, stating that environmental benefits outweigh the drawbacks. In the body paragraphs, you provide relevant ideas regarding carbon emissions, noise pollution, personal travel restrictions, and business challenges. However, some of these ideas are slightly under-developed and would benefit from deeper elaboration or more specific real-world examples rather than brief mentions. For instance, explaining how businesses negotiate deals remotely could strengthen the argument. According to the Band 7 descriptors, the task is addressed with a clear position and extended ideas, though with some minor tendencies to generalise.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay displays a generally coherent overall arrangement with logical organisation and progression. You use standard cohesive devices to guide the reader through your arguments, such as 'The main advantage', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion'. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct themes, including the environmental perspective, the disadvantages for individuals, and the business impacts. However, some cohesion is slightly mechanical, and referencing occasionally falters, such as the abrupt transition in 'On the contrary, businesses may also face...' where 'On the contrary' is used somewhat incorrectly for contrast between two negative points. Additionally, minor referencing issues like 'Fewer peopke fly, the demand...' disrupt smooth flow. Overall, this fits the Band 6 descriptor well.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
Your vocabulary is adequate for the task, demonstrating an attempt to use less common items such as 'sustainable future', 'carbon emission', and 'negotiations'. However, the essay contains frequent lexical and spelling errors that affect precision and fluency. Examples include 'environment concern' instead of 'environmental concerns', 'decide' instead of 'decision', 'perticularly' instead of 'particularly', 'enocurgaes' instead of 'encourages', 'oprations' instead of 'operations', 'ans' instead of 'and', 'srep' instead of 'step', 'culture' instead of 'cultures', 'considerately' instead of 'considerably', 'bordrs' instead of 'borders', 'opronak' instead of 'operational', 'oppoetunities' instead of 'opportunities', 'reducinf' instead of 'reducing', 'inconvience' instead of 'inconvenience', 'financila' instead of 'financial', and 'buinesses' instead of 'businesses'. These persistent spelling and word-form errors place the essay firmly in Band 5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, attempting complex forms with conditional and dependent clauses like 'Although this decide may create difficulties... I believe that its environment benefits...' and 'Airplanes consume large amounts of fuel, which contributes to...'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several structural errors, such as 'In recent year' instead of 'In recent years', 'Fewer peopke fly, the demand' missing a conditional connector like 'If', 'can reduce less noise pollution' where 'reduce' does not collocate well with 'less noise pollution', and 'Employees cannot travel easily, some bussinesses may lose...' which results in a comma splice. These errors occasionally cause difficulty or force the reader to pause, aligning with the Band 5 descriptors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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