Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-19

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 5.0)

It is often argued that some people have decided to diminish the number of times they fly every year or to stop flying altogether. Although these initiatives will have serious benefirts, I strongly believe that its disadvantages are more overall.

In the one hand, peoples who decided to reduce their flying time every year or even stop flying at all can be beneficial. One of the benefits is making the airports less crowded which will make it easy for passanges to fly confortably, especially passanges that find it challanging to fly in today's conditions. Thus, passanges will attend to the airport relaxed and comfortable. Another advange will be the price tiket of the fly, if a considerable individuals drop their number of hours of their fly the plane tiket will be affordable for every one because nowadays the demand of flying is significantly increasing over the years, which make will make more expansive than it is.

In the other hand, I think this development have some drawbacks, on of the drawbacks will be hurting businesses and individuals directly. Beginning with businesses, I think after this development flying companies will face a dangerous fall in its shares which will shut down several companies, this due the huge investment in plans, some companies get loans to run a business in the flying industry. Thus many bussiness companies will get hurt of this small development. Another drawback will damage the individuals in the available plans in the airport, meaning that

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student attempts to address the prompt by discussing the environmental benefits and disadvantages of reducing air travel. However, the response falls short of the 250-word minimum requirement, containing only 247 words, which negatively impacts task completion. The position is stated in the introduction, but the development of ideas is limited and repetitive. For instance, the discussion on benefits focuses heavily on less crowded airports and cheaper tickets rather than broader environmental impacts. Furthermore, the response is incomplete, cutting off abruptly at the end ('Another drawback will damage the individuals in the available plans in the airport, meaning that...'). Consequently, the ideas are under-developed, aligning with a Band 5 performance.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The response is organized into paragraphs with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a visible attempt at structuring arguments. However, the logical progression is hindered by frequent mechanical and faulty cohesive devices, such as 'In the one hand' and 'In the other hand' instead of 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand'. Referencing and pronouns are sometimes unclear, as seen in phrases like 'its disadvantages' when referring back to initiatives. Paragraphing is attempted, but the final paragraph breaks off mid-sentence, preventing a cohesive conclusion. These issues place the coherence and cohesion at a Band 5 level.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a limited but minimally adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting words like 'diminish', 'significantly increasing', and 'investment'. However, there are noticeable word choice errors and unnatural collocations throughout the text, such as 'price tiket of the fly', 'a considerable individuals', and 'bussiness companies'. Spelling errors are also present, including 'benefirts', 'passanges', 'confortably', 'challanging', 'advange', 'tiket', and 'expansive'. These lexical inaccuracies and restricted range are characteristic of a Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but attempts at complex structures are frequently faulty. There are numerous grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('peoples who decided', 'this development have', 'some companies get loans... thus many bussiness companies will get hurt of this small development'), preposition errors, and missing articles. Punctuation and sentence boundary errors also occur, such as run-on sentences ('...which make will make more expansive than it is.'). Because the frequency of errors is high and occasionally causes difficulty for the reader, the grammar score is a 5.0.

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.