Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-16
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)
Undoubtedly, a few masses are deciding to limit the number of flights which people are taking each year or entriely stop flying. While this trend will have some pros for environment along with few drawbacks for workers and businesses. I think that cons of this approch have more than pros which I will discuss in the upcoming paragraphs.
On the negative side, reducing the number of taking flights will have disadvantages. The predominant reason is that it will impact the revanue of business as employer earn more money when traveller are booking more flights. For instance, If people will not use the flights often which mean plane will have more empity seats. To make it more clear, plane use same amount of fuel which ultimately impact the budget. Moreover, having no and less number travellers means employer may layoff their employees whcih increace the unemployement rate. Therefore, this trend have an adverse impact on workers jobs and businesses.
On the positive side, some folks say that there are few advantages of limiting used of flights. One of the key factor is that it will assist to reduce the amount of pollution since emmision of harmful gases is high in plane which is put an adverse impact on an ecosystem by increasing pollution. As result, preference of taking of flighs will aid to reduce the number of flights which further help to control pollution.
In conclusion, Although there are only benefit of reducing the number of times to fly that is reducing pollution, it has more demerits on economic growth of business as well on jobs.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| 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 by discussing both the environmental benefits and the disadvantages for individuals and businesses, presenting a clear overall position that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For instance, the discussion on the economic impact relies on basic reasoning regarding revenue and unemployment without exploring deeper commercial ramifications. Similarly, the environmental paragraph touches on emission reduction but lacks specific examples or well-extended argumentation. While the student meets the basic requirements of addressing the prompt, the ideas remain underdeveloped in places, aligning the response with Band 6 descriptors.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is divided into a clear four-paragraph structure, including an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. There is a logical progression overall, moving from the negative impacts to the positive ones. Cohesive devices are used throughout the text, such as 'On the negative side', 'On the positive side', and 'In conclusion'. However, some cohesive referencing is faulty or mechanical, as seen with awkward phrasing like 'As result, preference of taking of flighs will aid...'. Paragraphing is used appropriately, but internal cohesion within sentences occasionally breaks down due to confusing transitions and repetition, placing this performance firmly at Band 6.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'predominant', 'revanue', and 'ecosystem', but spelling and word choice inaccuracies are frequent. There are multiple spelling errors throughout the response, including 'entriely', 'approch', 'revanue', 'empity', 'whcih', 'increace', 'emmision', and 'flighs'. Additionally, collocations are occasionally unnatural, such as 'number of taking flights' instead of 'number of flights taken'. While the vocabulary used is adequate to communicate the central ideas of the prompt, the frequency of lexical and spelling errors prevents the score from reaching Band 6.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating conditional structures such as 'If people will not use the flights often...'. However, grammatical control is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in verb tense and agreement, such as 'plane use same amount of fuel' and 'this trend have an adverse impact'. Punctuation errors are also present, including a fragment and run-on tendencies in complex sentences. Although communication is not severely impeded and the reader can follow the main arguments, the high density of grammatical errors across the text restricts the score to Band 5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.