Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-29

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)

In recent years, there has been growing debate over whether reduction in number of people flying and group fylying benefits enviornmental developments or harm individuals and businesses. While, there are certain drawbacks to fewer flights and solo flights, i believe the adavantages far outweigh them.

One of the main benefits of decreased flights and single-handed flights is that it reduce carbon dioxide emissions as airplanes burn large amount of fossil fuels and release high level of greenhouse gases so fewer flights directly slow down golbal climate change. This is particulary important for improving breathing conditions in nearby communities. For instance, France restricted short-haul domestic flights as train travel was an alternative. This policy resulted in less carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, cleaner air reduce chances of asthama, and also lessen the rate of heart diseases in urban area near flight hubs.

However, there are also some drawbacks to lower and alone flights that directy impact individuals and businesses such as loss personal and career opportunities for individual. This can be problematic because it limit global motility, making it harder for students to get international education, specialized training, and overseas jobs. For example, a students who wins a scholarship for aborad may miss the chance to travel, hurting their long-term path. Furthermore, it harm the business growth beacuse many island nations and developing regions rely almost entirely on international tourism to survive. When people choose not to fly, there will be job losses, poverty and business closures.

Taking everything into account, despite the disadvantages mentioned, I firmly believe that the advantages of fewer flights make it a positive development. Therefore, it is crucial that the government should impose law and regulations to make sure te flights should not peaked to the level where individuals get harm.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both the environmental benefits and the disadvantages for individuals and businesses. A clear position is stated in the introduction and maintained throughout the essay. Main ideas are presented, such as the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and the negative impact on global mobility and tourism. However, some ideas, such as "group fylying" and "single-handed flights," are somewhat confusingly expressed and slightly distort the prompt's focus on flying frequency. Supporting points are generally relevant, but could be extended with more depth and precision. For instance, the example regarding France's domestic flight ban is good, but the overall development tends to hover around Band 6.5 descriptors. Therefore, a score of 6.0 is appropriate as the response addresses all parts of the task with relevant ideas, though some are under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate main ideas, such as environmental benefits in the second paragraph and disadvantages in the third. Cohesive devices are employed, including transition markers like 'One of the main benefits', 'Moreover', 'However', and 'Taking everything into account'. However, referencing and cohesion are occasionally faulty or mechanical, as seen in awkward phrasing like 'lower and alone flights that directy impact individuals'. Additionally, logical progression within paragraphs stumbles slightly due to sentence-level clarity issues. Overall, the organizational structure is adequate and aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student attempts a range of vocabulary appropriate for an academic task, incorporating terms such as 'greenhouse gases', 'climate change', 'global mobility', and 'specialized training'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'enviornmental', 'fylying', 'adavantages', 'golbal', 'particulary', 'asthama', 'limit global motility' (mobility), 'harm the business growth beacuse', and 'peaked'. While these errors do not severely impede communication, they reflect a Band 6 level where vocabulary use demonstrates adequate range alongside recurrent lexical and spelling inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures. For example, sentences such as 'One of the main benefits of decreased flights and single-handed flights is that it reduce carbon dioxide emissions...' show structural ambition. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('it reduce', 'air reduce', 'it limit', 'it harm'), article omissions ('a students', 'aborad'), and awkward phrasing ('te flights should not peaked'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but grammatical slips persist across the text. This performance sits comfortably at Band 5.5 to 6.0, characterized by a mix of structures alongside grammatical errors that occasionally require the reader to re-read.

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

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