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 | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| 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, presenting a clear partial position. Ideas are relevant, such as reduced air pollution and the negative impacts of missed time commitments. However, the development tends to rely heavily on brief personal anecdotes like travelling 'to pune from gujarat by car' rather than broader, more generalised reasoning or fully extended arguments. Consequently, the ideas remain somewhat limited and under-developed, aligning best with a Band 6.0 descriptor.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing opposing views, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is utilised appropriately to separate ideas. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty, seen in transitions like 'In conclusion also there are different opinions about whether reduce in number of flights have become of benefical or disadvantageous'. Referencing and logical connectors lack flexibility, occasionally resulting in awkward phrasing between sentences. This performance fits the Band 6.0 level.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common phrases such as 'financial loss' and 'time commitments'. However, there are noticeable word choice and morphological errors, such as 'can beneficial to environment', 'near by cities', 'too much in costs', and 'keeping individuals perspective'. Spelling errors like 'benefical' also appear. While these issues do not impede overall communication, they restrict the lexical score to Band 5.5 due to recurrent inaccuracies.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over structure. However, frequent grammatical errors are present throughout the text, including missing auxiliary verbs ('whether reduce in number of flights have become'), incorrect prepositions ('in front of the investors'), and pronoun confusion ('there businesses' instead of 'their businesses'). While communication remains understandable, the frequency of errors prevents the response from reaching Band 6.0, making Band 5.5 a more accurate reflection of current grammatical control.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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