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)
Nowadays some people have decided to reduce the number of times they fly every year or to stop flying altogether.I understand that this can beneficial to environment but it can lead to significant drawbacks for individuals and businesses.I partly agree to this view, as both the sides have valid points.
In my opinion, the environmental benefits could be such as less air pollution, no more high maintenance required in managing the flights and airports and people can also contribute by travelling to near by cities by avoiding flights and take other options such as taxi, train or bus.Like, before few days I travelled to pune from gujarat by car and it saved my lot of money as air tickets are too much in costs.
On the other hand, this can bring big loss to the individuals having time commitments and also to there businesses.Like there was a time few months backs when I travelled by air due to high costs of tickets which in result lead to a big financial loss for me as I couldn't reach the place on time which made a negative impression of mine in front of the investors.
In conclusion also there are different opinions about whether reduce in number of flights have become of benefical or disadvantageous, I believe that this can bring environmental benefits but keeping individuals perspective it more depends on them that how they want to travel which should not lead to there loss in businesses and time related commitments too.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the environmental benefits and the disadvantages for individuals and businesses, establishing a clear position in the introduction ('I partly agree to this view'). However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and relies heavily on personal anecdotes rather than fully elaborated arguments. For example, the point about business loss is illustrated solely by a single personal travel experience rather than broader industry impacts. This places the response comfortably at Band 6.0, as it presents a relevant and structured argument, but the support tends to be brief, repetitive, and anecdotal, preventing a higher band score.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the response into introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used to separate distinct ideas (environmental benefits versus business disadvantages). However, cohesion at the sentence level is often faulty or mechanical, with noticeable issues in referencing and transitional phrases. For instance, the transition 'In conclusion also there are different opinions' is unnatural, and pronouns like 'this' or 'there' are occasionally misused ('keeping individuals perspective it more depends on them that how they want to travel which should not lead to there loss'). These lapses in cohesive devices and referencing place the text at Band 5.5.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating everyday concepts and familiar opinions ('environmental benefits', 'air pollution', 'financial loss'). There are several attempts to use less common vocabulary, but these are frequently marred by word choice, spelling, and collocation errors, such as 'high maintenance required in managing the flights', 'air tickets are too much in costs', and confusing 'there' with 'their'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they restrict the vocabulary to a Band 5.0 level, where noticeable lexical inaccuracies cause some difficulty for the reader.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The response shows a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, though complex structures are often faulty or clumsy ('as both the sides have valid points', 'which in result lead to a big financial loss'). There are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with prepositions, verb tenses, and subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'reduce in number of flights have become of benefical', 'travelling to near by cities'). Punctuation errors are also present, such as missing spaces after periods and commas. Because the frequency of errors is noticeable and affects readability while simple sentences remain generally clear, a Band 5.0 is appropriate.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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