Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-17

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)

The use of vehicles is a major contributor to the pollution of environment. While flights have made travelling very convenient and fast, they also contribute significantly to the noise pollution and paucity of traditional fuels. Although reducing the number of times people travel by plane would affect individuals and businesses, its primary advantage of reducing pollution outweighs this disadvantage.

Although the number of people using flights has increased overall, some people have decided to reduce the frequency of travelling by flights or stop using flights altogether. Airplanes require a great amount of consumption of fossil fuels which are traditional sources of energy. While there is more awareness about the use of natural resources for energy, fossil fuel still remain the primary source. The scarcity of these conventional sources would affect greatly to overall energy consumption of the whole world. There is mostly no residence around airports because of the noise pollution it generates. But it still requires large area which is mostly built by deforestation. In this way, it still contributes to the noise pollution and global warming. Therefore, reducing the frequency of flights would be greatly beneficial for environment.

There are many students and teenagers who travel from one country to other for the purpose of education and employment. For example, many students and people from India travel a lot by plane every year for educational and business purposes. Hence, there still remains the necessity of travelling by plane. Reducing flying will impact individuals and businesses. Many people travel by plane just for fun and enjoying instead of the actual need. Reducing the frequency of flights taken just for enjoyment would harm the businesses but overall benefit the environment and nothing comes above environment in today's day and age.

Because of the greater importance of pollution control and environment saving, the advantages of less flights outweigh the disadvantages which are mostly economical to businesses. Earth saving should be more primary than the convenience and enjoyment of people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You give a clear answer: you believe the environmental gains from reducing flights outweigh the disadvantages, and you address both environmental effects and impacts on people and businesses. The discussion of fuel use, airport noise and land clearance is relevant, while the examples of students and workers travelling internationally acknowledge that flying remains necessary for some purposes. However, several points are asserted rather than explained. For instance, the claim that fewer flights would reduce pollution could be supported with a clearer link to emissions, and the effects on businesses are described mainly as economic harm without a concrete example. The distinction between essential and leisure travel is promising but could be developed further to show how it balances the competing interests.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction states your position, the body paragraphs consider environmental effects and travel-related disadvantages, and the conclusion restates your view. This makes the main line of argument understandable. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes uneven. The second paragraph moves from fuel scarcity to airport noise and deforestation without clearly showing how these points connect, and the third shifts from education and employment travel to leisure travel and business impacts. Linking phrases such as “Although,” “Therefore,” and “Hence” are used, but some connections feel mechanical or do not precisely express the relationship between ideas. Group related points more tightly and use clearer references to show how each example supports your argument.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of topic vocabulary, including “fossil fuels,” “noise pollution,” “deforestation,” and “frequency of flights,” which helps communicate the environmental argument. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “conventional sources” and “the necessity of travelling by plane.” However, several word choices and collocations are unnatural or imprecise, including “paucity of traditional fuels,” “environment saving,” and “Earth saving.” Repetition of “environment,” “pollution,” and “travel” also limits flexibility. Aim for more conventional academic expressions and precise terms—for example, refer to “greenhouse-gas emissions” when discussing climate effects, and distinguish clearly between “essential” and “leisure” flights. These adjustments would make the argument sound more natural and exact.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including concessive clauses such as “Although reducing the number of times people travel by plane would affect individuals and businesses…” and conditional-style contrasts with “While.” Most sentences remain understandable, and errors rarely prevent the reader from following your position. Some grammatical problems do recur, however: “fossil fuel still remain” has a subject–verb agreement error, “affect greatly to overall energy consumption” has an incorrect grammatical pattern, and “There is mostly no residence around airports” has an awkward singular construction. Articles and prepositions also need attention in phrases such as “pollution of environment” and “travel from one country to other.” Proofread for agreement and sentence patterns, while continuing to use varied clauses.

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