Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-01
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 4.5)
Reducing the number of times, the people fly, or stoping it altogether is an environment friendly step. And, it may provide a way to the healthy and clean environment.
Reducing the number of flights, will reduce the amount of pollution caused by the air traffic, it would help, the environment to be cleaned. The air pollution caused by the city traffic, is far lesser than the one caused by air traffic. These automobile and aircraft engines, produce toxic chemicals into the air around us
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 3.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 4.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 4.5 |
| Overall | 4.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.5
The response sits at this band because it addresses the task only partially and falls significantly short of the word count requirement, containing only 84 words instead of the minimum 250 words. While the writer touches upon the environmental benefits of reducing flights, the disadvantages for individuals and businesses—a crucial part of the prompt—are entirely ignored. Furthermore, the ideas presented are extremely limited and under-developed, consisting of repetitive assertions about air pollution without any supporting examples or a clear overall position on whether the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0
This criterion reflects a level where information and ideas are not arranged coherently, lacking a clear overall progression. The writing is fragmented into very short paragraphs and disjointed sentences, such as starting with an isolated sentence and following with disconnected points. Cohesive devices are largely absent or misused, and punctuation errors disrupt the flow. There is no clear paragraph structure to separate the introduction, body arguments, and conclusion, making the overall organization difficult for the reader to follow.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is limited and basic, featuring noticeable errors that occasionally impede communication. Words like 'stoping' (spelling error for stopping) and phrases such as 'environment friendly step' demonstrate a restricted range. The student attempts some topic-specific vocabulary related to pollution and air traffic, but the word choices and collocations lack precision and variety. To reach a higher band, the writer needs to incorporate a wider and more flexible range of lexical items with correct spelling and natural phrasing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5
The grammar is characterized by a very limited range of sentence structures, with frequent errors that cause difficulty for the reader. There are persistent punctuation and phrasing errors, such as unnecessary commas ('Reducing the number of times, the people fly') and incorrect article usage ('a healthy and clean environment'). Attempts at complex structures are faulty, and issues with subject-verb agreement and word forms appear throughout the short text. Achieving a higher band would require a broader mix of accurate simple and complex sentence forms.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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