Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-04

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)

Nowadays, some people are choosing to fly less often or stop flying completly. although this decision has some disada=vantages, i believe that the enviroment benefit and disadvantages.

the main advantage is that fewer fight can help reduce air pollution and greenhouse gass emissions. this important because climate change is a serious problem around the world. for example , people can use train or buses for shot journey instead of plans. as a result, they can help people envirorment.

On the other hand, reducing air pollution can problem foe individulas enviroment and people health. people spend more time to traveing , esapecicall when they need to visit other countires . morever, airline, hotels and tourism companies may lose customers and money .for example, bussiness people may find diffcult to attented internatinal meetingd in person.

In conclusion, althogh flying less an cause diffculties for travellers and bussineses, i believe tthat enivorment benifit is very impotant fo heath human.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt only partially, and importantly, it fails to meet the minimum length requirement, containing only 156 words instead of the required 250. This severely limits the depth of the response. While the student attempts to present a position regarding whether the environmental benefits outweigh the disadvantages, the ideas remain very limited and under-developed. For instance, the discussion on environmental benefits mentions reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, but this point is expressed in a very repetitive and basic manner without sufficient supporting examples or extension. Similarly, the disadvantages for individuals and businesses, such as travel time and tourism losses, are touched upon superficially. To move to a higher band, the writer must fully develop all parts of the task with extended arguments and examples, while ensuring the word count requirement is satisfied.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays some basic organization with paragraph breaks and simple transitional markers like "On the other hand" and "In conclusion." However, there is no clear overall progression of ideas, and the logical flow is hindered by repetitive statements and abrupt transitions. Cohesive devices are used rather inadequately and mechanically, such as repeating the mention of air pollution and environmental aspects without adding new progression to the argument. Furthermore, referencing is sometimes unclear, and paragraphing is affected by formatting issues where sentences run together. To achieve a higher band, the writer needs to ensure a smoother logical progression throughout the text, use a wider and more accurate range of cohesive devices naturally, and maintain clear paragraph structures without mechanical repetition.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

The vocabulary used is limited and barely adequate for the task, with noticeable errors in spelling, word choice, and word form that frequently impede communication. Examples of lexical errors include spelling mistakes like "completly", "disada=vantages", "enviroment", "fight", "gass", "shot", "plans", "problem foe individulas", "traveing", "esapecicall", "bussiness", "diffcult", "attented", "internatinal", "meetingd", "althogh", "benifit", and "heath human". Many of these are repeated basic spelling errors and inaccurate word choices, such as using "heath human" instead of human health. To improve, the writer must expand their lexical range beyond basic terms, pay close attention to standard spelling conventions, and ensure that word forms and collocations are used accurately.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer employs a very limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple sentences, and attempts at complex structures are often faulty or missing entirely due to poor punctuation and capitalization. Frequent grammatical errors include missing articles, incorrect pluralization, and poor sentence boundary control, such as lowercase letters at the start of sentences ("i believe", "this important", "for example ,"). Additionally, verb forms and prepositional patterns are poorly controlled, as seen in phrases like "people spend more time to traveing". These frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader. To progress, the writer needs to demonstrate a greater variety of complex sentence forms with good control over punctuation, capitalization, subject-verb agreement, and basic grammatical accuracy.

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

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