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)

It is often argued that people should decide to stop flying due to the environmental issues that is caused by air traffic. Although stop flying may can reduce the airpollution at some extent, I believe that environmental benefits will not outweigh the drawbacks for individuals and businesses

One of the primary reasons is that air travelling may hampers business growth. This means that when people stops travelling by air, it may not affects only business persons but also hinder the growth of all related business such as airlines business, tourist business and other business that are connected to the world. As a result, many poeple will become unemployed and the entire world will disconnect which ultimately unsatble the economic of the entire world.

Another reason is that individuals will suffer a lot. That is to say, many families are settled in other countries and students are also travels for better opportunities. when people stop using air travelling, this will stop them to achieve their goals that they want to achieve by visiting other countries. Moreover, people may get depressed when they will not be able to meet their relatives or dear ones due to the emotional detachment. For instance, many students form underdeveloped contries are moving to other developed countries due to the air travelling which made easy to pursue their goals.

In conclusion, while stop using airplanes for travelling may be benefical for environment, I believe it can not be outweighed the disdadvantages what individuals and business will face due to not using air transportation.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the environmental benefits of reducing air travel and the disadvantages for individuals and businesses. A clear position is stated in the introduction and maintained throughout the essay. However, the ideas lack sufficient depth and development. For instance, the discussion on economic impacts and personal reasons remains somewhat repetitive and relies on generalisations rather than well-supported examples. The third paragraph attempts to use an example regarding students from underdeveloped countries, but it is underdeveloped and woven into a broad statement. This places the response comfortably in Band 6, as it addresses the prompt adequately but needs fuller extension and support for its main ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure, featuring an introduction, two body paragraphs covering distinct points, and a conclusion. Transitional phrases such as 'One of the primary reasons', 'Another reason', and 'In conclusion' are employed to guide the reader through the text, although they sometimes feel mechanical or formulaic. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct arguments. Referencing is generally clear, though occasional clunky phrasings make the logical progression slightly bumpy in places. Overall, the organizational structure is logical enough to meet the Band 6 descriptor criteria, ensuring the progression of ideas can be followed without major difficulty.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using topic-related terms such as 'environmental issues', 'air traffic', 'economic growth', and 'unemployed'. However, there are notable word choice and collocation errors throughout the text, such as 'air travelling', 'business persons', and 'unsatble the economic'. Furthermore, repetition of words like 'business', 'countries', and 'achieve' limits lexical flexibility. While the vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the main arguments, these persistent inaccuracies and basic slips in word formation prevent the response from achieving a higher score, aligning it best with Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional-style constructions. However, the text is heavily impacted by frequent grammatical errors. Examples include 'environmental issues that is caused', 'stop flying may can reduce', 'airpollution at some extent', 'when people stops', and 'it can not be outweighed'. These errors in subject-verb agreement, modal verb combinations, tense consistency, and passive voice structures frequently interrupt the flow of reading and demonstrate limited control over complex structures. Consequently, the grammatical accuracy falls short of Band 6, reflecting the characteristics of Band 5.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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