Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)
In recent years , people are often reducing their flight numbers gradually over the years or completely stop flying at all. Reducing flight number anually, can have beneficial effect on environment. However , I believe that it does not outweigh the drawbacks for individuals and businesses. This essay will discuss about the importance of airlines with possible drawbacks on environment.
Firstly, airlines is one the the safest and quickest mode of travel in todays world. The wolrd trade, is heavily depend on transport of good and services.Moreover,the product are transferred around the wolrd within days through flight but it can cosume over months if alternatives are used. For instance, the majority of maldives export and import depends upon cargo.In additon , the tourism sector can bear negative effect by this trend . This can results in lowering the country GDP over the years.
In contrast, the emisson of green house gases by the flight can result in global warming.Global warming increases the earth tempreature and introduce climate change. For example, many parts of the world started experiencing global warminng and uneven weather pattern.In addtition to that, it can causes noise and air pollution. for example, people are suffering from the respiratory disease in young ages.
In conclusion, airplane is one the means for transporting the goods and service around the world . although having positive effect on environment i belive that it does not outweigh the disadvanteges for individuals and busineesses.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages of air travel for individuals and businesses and the environmental disadvantages. A position is presented, stating that environmental benefits do not outweigh drawbacks. However, the ideas are somewhat limited and under-developed, relying on brief examples such as the Maldives' cargo dependency and general statements about global warming. Furthermore, the response is 9 words short of the 250-word minimum requirement, which negatively impacts task achievement, aligning the response with a Band 5.5 descriptor profile due to under-length and partial development of main ideas.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay is divided into four paragraphs, including an introduction and conclusion. There is a basic overall progression, and cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'In contrast', 'For instance', and 'In conclusion' are used to structure the text. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical, and paragraphing could be tighter. For instance, the introduction contains a slightly confused sentence structure ('Reducing flight number anually, can have beneficial effect on environment. However , I believe... This essay will discuss about...'), and transitions between sentences can feel abrupt. These features place the essay firmly at Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common words and phrases such as 'depend on transport of good and services', 'respiratory disease', and 'global warming'. However, there are notable spelling errors ('anually', 'wolrd', 'depend', 'cosume', 'Additon', 'emisson', 'tempreature', 'warminng', 'addtition', 'disadvanteges') and word-choice inaccuracies ('flight numbers' instead of 'air travel' or 'flights'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, their frequency prevents the essay from reaching Band 6.0, making Band 5.0 a more accurate descriptor of the lexical control shown here.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional or concessive clauses ('although having positive effect on environment i belive that it does not outweigh...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('airlines is one the the safest', 'product are transferred', 'emisson... can result', 'airplane is one the means'), missing articles ('on environment', 'by flight', 'lowering the country GDP'), and punctuation/capitalization slips. These frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect a solid Band 5.0 grammatical profile.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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