Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-26

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)

With the introduction of airplanes, travelling become more easier and prevalent. But people have decided to less use of air transport year by year which pose a threat to individual business and some countries GDP. Although, it affects environment, it helps business to grow therefore it outweighs the advantages of environment benefits.

Air aviation is a major part of commuting for a far distances. By avoiding the use of it, travelling will become more costlier and can damage the balance of small industries. In addition, some countries relies their majority of GDP on tourism which at somehow affect through this decision. For instance, Dubai is one of the best place to visit and tourism contributes major part of its income where during corona, aviation was closed which leads to less tourist visited and affect country's income. Moreover, it also exacerbate the problems of small business which relies on tourists.

However, less flying means less flights which helps environment to sustain and to grow. With increasing popularity of air travel there is a trend of converting lands into airports, even some cities like Mumbai have two airport. For airports there are need of large land area and also it creates significant pollution. Airplanes consumes a immense amount of fuel and release greenhouse gases which damages Ozone layer or Earth's atmosphere.

In my opinion, people should use less flights than what they do now but they should not stop themselves from travelling because it hinder locals to survive whose businesses are based on non local people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the environmental benefits of reducing air travel and the economic disadvantages for individuals and businesses, presenting a clear position. The writer introduces relevant ideas, such as the impact on tourism-dependent countries like Dubai and the economic strain on small businesses. However, these ideas remain somewhat under-developed and lack extension with deeper analysis or concrete secondary examples. While the position is evident throughout, the arguments would benefit from more thorough elaboration to reach a higher band. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, satisfying the requirements for a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph-by-paragraph structure that separates the introduction, the economic disadvantages, the environmental benefits, and the conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'In addition', 'For instance', and 'However', though some transitions feel slightly mechanical or repetitive ('Moreover'). Referencing is generally clear, and paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas. Progression is discernible, moving logically from economic concerns to environmental impacts and finally a personal stance. This aligns well with the descriptors for Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'prevalent', 'exacerbate', and 'greenhouse gases'. However, there are notable word choice and collocation errors throughout the text, such as 'travelling become more easier' instead of 'easier', 'less use of air transport' instead of 'reduced air travel', 'costlier' instead of 'more costly', and 'relies their majority of GDP' instead of 'depend for the majority of their GDP'. Spelling is generally acceptable, but lexical inaccuracies restrict the score to a 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 structures. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors such as subject-verb agreement issues ('travelling become', 'airplanes consumes', 'there are need'), awkward phrasing ('which at somehow affect through this decision'), and missing articles ('tourists visited and affect country's income'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they cause noticeable difficulty for the reader and prevent the text from achieving a Band 6.0.

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