Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-17

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 the recent years, most people have chosen not to fly frequently as they believe it will be beneficial for the environment resulting in less air pollution. This essay will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of people flying less by air.

To begin with, it is certain that reducing air travel can have a positive impact on the environment. Airplanes produce a considerate amount of carbon emissions, that is detrimental for the environment. Significant positive impacts are less air pollution and less fuel consumption. As people decides to fly less by planes, there will be less flights flying, leading to less fuel usage. Moreover, People will get to save more money as air tickets are usually expensive.

Conversely, flying less can cause drawbacks too. As flying through aircrafts is the fastest way and more convenient. Using other travelling routes can be time consuming and hectic for people. For instance, an international student may need to fly several times a year to visit their family, and avoiding flights could make such journeys considerably more difficult and expensive. Businesses may also face challenges because international companies often depend on air travel for meetings, conferences and maintaining relationships with overseas clients.

In conclusion, I believe that flying less through planes cause more cons which outweigh the pros. Even if people choose not the fly via airplanes to prevent air pollution, cars on roads and factories still causing the air pollution, leading to the damage to the environment. Also, airplane travelling is less time consuming and preferred by majority of the people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both the environmental benefits of reduced air travel and the disadvantages for individuals and businesses, ultimately providing a clear position in the conclusion. Ideas are relevant, but some are under-developed or briefly stated rather than fully extended. For instance, the point about businesses depending on air travel is mentioned but lacks specific elaboration or a strong concrete example. The mention of other pollution sources like cars and factories in the conclusion slightly muddies the specific focus of the prompt on flying, but the main position remains discernible. Based on the band descriptors, this performance sits comfortably at Band 6.0 because it addresses all parts of the task with relevant ideas, though development is at times limited.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from introduction to body paragraphs and conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately, with each body paragraph dedicated to a distinct theme (benefits vs. drawbacks). Cohesive devices are employed adequately, such as 'To begin with', 'Moreover', and 'Conversely', though some transitions feel slightly mechanical. Referencing is generally clear, although phrases like 'As people decides to fly less' and minor mechanical errors in linking create occasional bumps in readability. Overall, the organizational structure is sound and meets the requirements for a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'detrimental', 'carbon emissions', and 'considerably more difficult'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward collocations, such as 'considerate amount of carbon emissions' (where 'considerable' was likely intended), 'flying through aircrafts' instead of 'flying by aircraft', and 'still causing the air pollution'. Spelling and word-choice errors do not impede overall communication, placing this response at a Band 6.0 level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at subordination and relative clauses, such as 'As people decides to fly less by planes, there will be less flights flying...'. There are several grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('people decides', 'factories still causing'), article misuse ('the air pollution'), and prepositional slips ('flying through aircrafts'). Despite these errors, they rarely impede communication, and the sentence structures are sufficiently varied to merit a Band 6.0.

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