Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-11

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)

Aerospace industry is growing day by day, and the development of the aircrafts have made life more easier for mankind, People use to travel through ships, which take months and years to reach their destination. As of now, human can go to space just in some hours.

One should have no doubt, that these innovations and technologies have made an ease for the individuals and businesses. But these developments have some cons too, which needs to be addressed whenever we talk about there pros.

Every aircraft produces severe greenhouse emissions which is one of the major cause for Global Warming.

The environmental benefits can be in good numbers if number of flights taken by individuals is reduced. This will directly reduce the number of flight hours overall and greenhouse emissions produced by the aircraft exhausts will be cut down.

On the other side, it will directly effect the individuals who are living away from their homes and have to visit there families, not just these individuals but also the businesses which solely depends on Cargo shipments. In this era, every other country's economy is dependant on the imports and exports. Also majority of the people are living away from there homes to find a good paying job and in search of a qaulity life.

The population is rising day by day and every individual has there own needs to use these sources of transportation. My opinion in the above scenario is to shift those jet engines into a hybrid versions of them as like in cars. Different authorities are already working on this to save the planet from Greenhouse emissions.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address both the environmental benefit and the disadvantages for individuals and businesses, and your position is partly visible in the final suggestion to develop hybrid aircraft engines. The explanation that fewer flights would reduce emissions is relevant, as are the examples of families living apart and businesses relying on cargo. However, the task asks whether the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, and you do not clearly answer this comparison: the conclusion proposes a technological alternative rather than stating which side is more important. Several points are also asserted rather than explained, such as the dependence of economies on imports and exports. State your judgement directly and develop it with a specific example or explanation of the relative scale of the impacts.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable sequence: it introduces aviation, discusses emissions, presents disadvantages, and ends with a proposed solution. Paragraph breaks help distinguish these stages, and phrases such as “On the other side” signal a contrast. However, progression is not consistently clear because the opening discussion of travel to space does not connect closely to the question, and the final paragraph shifts from population growth to hybrid engines without showing the link. Some connections are also mechanical or imprecise, including “But these developments have some cons too” and “not just these individuals but also the businesses.” Organise the essay around a clear position, with one paragraph for benefits and one for disadvantages, then use the conclusion to compare them.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some topic-relevant vocabulary, including “greenhouse emissions,” “Global Warming,” “Cargo shipments,” and “imports and exports,” which helps communicate the main ideas. There is also an attempt to use less common terms such as “aerospace industry” and “hybrid versions.” However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, for example “made an ease,” “flight hours overall,” and “in good numbers.” Spelling errors such as “dependant,” “qaulity,” and repeated “there” for “their” are noticeable and reduce precision. Aim for natural, accurate combinations such as “make travel easier,” “reduce the number of flights,” and “rely on air freight,” and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and longer sentences, including a relative clause in “individuals who are living away from their homes” and a conditional idea about reducing flights. However, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to follow. Examples include “the development of the aircrafts have made,” where the subject and verb do not agree, and “Every aircraft produces … which is one of the major cause,” where agreement and singular/plural form are faulty. Other problems include “human can go,” “which needs to be addressed,” and comma splices or missing sentence boundaries. Practise accurate subject–verb agreement, articles, and sentence punctuation, then build longer sentences only when you can control their structure.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.