Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-14

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)

Nowadays, some people decided to reduce the number of flights they take each year or stop flying completly to protect the environmets. Although this decision may create more challenging for individualles and business. I beleive benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

The main advantage of reducing the travel that it help protect the environment and release large amount of carbon dioxide into the atmoshere, which contribute to global warming and climmate change. It ,ay people are less travelling and these gases will not harm the atmosphere. For example, people who are travelling by train and buses for shorter journey intead of flights, this would help reduce the carbon transport and encourage more environmently friendly travel habits.

On the other hand, reducing air travel can have disadvantages for individuals and businesses. People may find difficulty to visit abroad because most of the adults are living in abroad. Moreover, their parents are at their own country, Furthermore, airlines should face many kinds difficulties and the tourism companies may suffer from financial loses beacuse fewer people travel. For instance, hotels and resturants in popular tourist travel may recieve customers. However, online meeting can replace more business trips and people can use alternative transports for shoreter distance. Therefore, these disadvantages can be managed to some extent.

In conclusion, reducing air travel may create difficulties for individuals and businesses, i beleive environmental benefits are greater. Protecting the planet from climate change is essential for future generation, and everyone should consider more sustainable ways for travelling whenever possible.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both sides of the question and state a clear view: “I believe benefits outweigh the disadvantages.” The environmental case is relevant, linking fewer flights with lower carbon emissions and climate change, while the disadvantages paragraph considers family visits, airlines and tourism businesses. Your conclusion also returns to the comparison. However, some points are unclear or only briefly developed. The claim that “most of the adults are living in abroad” does not clearly explain who is affected or why flying is necessary, and the tourism example does not fully show the scale of the impact. Develop these ideas with a specific explanation or example, and make the comparison between environmental gains and personal or economic costs more explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on environmental benefits, a paragraph on disadvantages and alternatives, and a conclusion. Linking phrases such as “On the other hand,” “Moreover,” and “Therefore” help signal the direction of the argument. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty, and some references are difficult to follow. For example, “It ,ay people are less travelling” interrupts the explanation of emissions, while the sequence about adults living abroad and their parents in another country is not clearly connected. The hotel and restaurant example is also incomplete. Use clearer topic sentences and ensure each sentence develops the point before moving to the next; check that pronouns and examples have an unmistakable referent.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “carbon dioxide,” “global warming,” “climate change,” “alternative transports,” and “sustainable ways.” This gives you enough language to communicate the main argument, but the range and control are limited by noticeable spelling, word-form and collocation errors. Examples include “environmets,” “completly,” “financial loses,” and “environmently friendly”; these can distract the reader or make a phrase harder to understand. Some combinations are also unnatural, such as “reduce the travel” and “popular tourist travel.” Build a bank of accurate topic collocations and proofread spelling and word forms. More precise choices, such as “reduce air travel” and “tourist destinations,” would make the argument clearer.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a concession in “Although this decision may create…” and a relative clause in “which contribute to global warming.” However, some sentence structures are incomplete or faulty, and errors in verb forms, agreement, articles and sentence boundaries sometimes make the meaning difficult to follow. For example, “Although this decision may create more challenging…” is a dependent clause without a main clause, and “the main advantage … that it help protect” is missing a linking verb and has incorrect agreement. The sentence beginning “For example, people who are travelling…” is also not a complete sentence. Practise building complete clauses and check subject–verb agreement, articles and punctuation when editing.

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