Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-09
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 6.0)
In recent years, reducing number of times travelling by flight has become a widely debated topic. While some people believe that this has some benefits on the environment, I strongly believe the benefits outweighs the drawbacks. This essay will explain the main reasons for my viewpoint.
The primary benefit of reducing air travel is its positive impact on the environment.Aviation is a major contributor of carbon emissions and green house that exarcebates climate change.Climate change may lead to rising sea level which may result in floods. Additionally, there may be less rainfall causing droughts.Therefore,reducing flights mitigates climate change,protects fragile ecosystem and reduces pollution.For instance, one flight can generate carbon foot print larger than many people produce in a year. Therefore, less flights less atmospheric pollution.
One of the disadvantages is that reducing travelling will make peolpe loos their cultural experiences . This is difficult for people that live abroad and they need to travel and see their loved ones in their home country.For example people in from Malawi that live in UK. For businesses , those that need international trips and face -to-face meetings may suffer loss.However this can be mitigated by using video calls and conferencing.reducing the need to travel. Less air travel may lead to reduced tourism activities which will in the long run affect the revenue of the country as tourism is a major contributor.
In conclusion,while air travel poses challanges for personal mobility ,I believe the environmental benefits namely reducing carbon emissions and conserving ecosystem, outweigh these disadvantages.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 6.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5
Your position is clear from the introduction: you believe the environmental benefits outweigh the disadvantages, and you return to this view in the conclusion. You address both individuals and businesses, identifying reduced emissions and pollution as benefits, and cultural separation, business travel, and tourism revenue as costs. These are relevant points, but some are developed more fully than others. The climate-change effects are explained, while the business and tourism disadvantages are mostly asserted rather than supported with specific consequences or examples. The comparison is also implicit: explain more directly why the environmental gains are more significant than these costs. This gives the response solid coverage, with some development, but fuller support and evaluation would strengthen it.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5
The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on environmental benefits, a paragraph on disadvantages, and a conclusion. The progression from the main benefit to the costs is easy to follow, and signposts such as “Additionally,” “For instance,” and “In conclusion” help guide the reader. However, some linking is mechanical or unclear. “Therefore” is repeated close together in the benefits paragraph, and “However this can be mitigated…” is joined awkwardly to the preceding point. The final paragraph on tourism also shifts quickly from business travel to national revenue. Use clearer links between these related ideas and develop each paragraph around a more consistent sequence to make cohesion more flexible.
Lexical Resource: Band 6.0
You use an adequate range of topic vocabulary, including “carbon emissions,” “climate change,” “fragile ecosystem,” “cultural experiences,” and “international trips.” These choices make the main ideas clear, and you attempt some more specific environmental language. However, inaccurate word choice, collocation, and spelling reduce precision: “green house” is not the intended term, “carbon foot print” is incorrectly formed, and “less flights” should use a different quantifier. There are also misspellings such as “exarcebates,” “peolpe,” and “challanges.” Some phrases, including “reducing travelling,” sound unnatural. Check spelling carefully and learn common collocations for travel, emissions, and environmental impacts; this will make your vocabulary more accurate and natural.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “people that live abroad” and a conditional-style explanation of climate impacts. The overall meaning is generally understandable, but some errors in agreement, articles, sentence boundaries, and punctuation remain. For example, “the benefits outweighs” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “reducing number of times” needs an article. Several sentences run together, as in “climate change.Climate change…” and “conferencing.reducing the need to travel,” making the relationships between ideas less clear. There is also a fragment in “Therefore, less flights less atmospheric pollution.” Review sentence boundaries and agreement, and practise combining clauses accurately so that your range of structures is more controlled.
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