Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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)

A few people have come to a conclusion to limit the amount of travel they do by air individually or together.

Individuals around the world are trying to reduce the impact of atmospheric reactions and direct greenhouse gas emissions and many have come up with a possible solution of reduction in the use of aircrafts for travelling. For example, the decision makers decide to take 20 business trips during a year that were more than 50 usually, to reduce the pollution in the air. A reduction that can half the amount of travelling can bring a positive impact on the quality of air. In addition, few people have started finding alternatives to avoid the use of aircrafts as the contaminations of these machines are washed into the soil during the maintenance leading to high level pollution. For instance, a crockery dealer in Pakistan used to import goods from China and used to travel a lot during the year to grow his business but after realising the impact of pollution and the cost of importing, he brought machines in Pakistan to start his own manufcaturing in order to avoid flying from one place to another and pay more for a business that can cause more pollution.

In contrast to this, many individuals fly around the globe to make business deals and look for opportunities to grow their businesses that is undoubtedly impossible to do if a person does not travel. For example, chinese travelled to Gwadar and Karachi to start their project CPEC and build a port at Gwadar that can change the trade market dynamics for the South Asians. It was not possible if chinese travelled by road that is unsafe and more time consuming, causing multiple problems for the business.

Envrionmental benefits can affect the business negatively if individuals and groups decide not to travel by air.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You discuss both the environmental gains and the disadvantages for business, and the examples about reducing business flights and the CPEC project are relevant to the topic. However, the response only partly answers the central question: it does not clearly weigh whether the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. The final sentence says environmental benefits “can affect the business negatively,” but this conflicts with the earlier argument and does not state your overall judgement. Some support is also unclear or insufficiently explained, such as the claim that aircraft maintenance contaminants are washed into soil. To strengthen the response, state your position directly in the introduction and conclusion, then explain why one side is more significant, using accurate, developed examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an opening, a paragraph on environmental benefits, a contrasting paragraph about business travel, and a concluding statement. Connectors such as “For example,” “In addition,” and “In contrast to this” help signal relationships between ideas. However, the overall progression is limited: the opening does not establish a clear position, and the final sentence introduces a conclusion that is not fully reconciled with the preceding discussion. Some links between claims are also abrupt, particularly the move from aircraft pollution to the crockery dealer’s manufacturing decision. Use topic sentences that make each paragraph’s purpose clear, develop each example in a logical sequence, and use the conclusion to resolve the comparison rather than simply repeat one concern.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonably varied set of topic-related vocabulary, including “greenhouse gas emissions,” “alternatives,” “pollution,” “opportunities,” and “trade market dynamics.” This allows you to discuss environmental and commercial effects, and some less common terms show an effort to be precise. However, several choices are awkward or inaccurate, such as “atmospheric reactions,” “contaminations of these machines,” and “a crockery dealer,” which can make the intended meaning less clear. There are also spelling errors, including “manufcaturing” and “Envrionmental,” and “aircrafts” is not the usual plural form. Aim for more natural collocations and check spelling; for instance, use “aircraft emissions” and “manufacturing facility” where appropriate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of sentence forms, including longer sentences with subordinate clauses, as in the example about the dealer who imported goods from China. The main ideas are generally understandable, but control becomes uneven in these extended structures. For example, “A reduction that can half the amount of travelling can bring…” is a sentence fragment, while “the decision makers decide to take 20 business trips… that were more than 50 usually” has unclear clause structure and tense. There are also problems with articles and agreement, such as “a possible solution of reduction” and “the contaminations… are washed.” Improve accuracy by separating complex ideas into complete sentences, checking subject–verb relationships, and using consistent verb forms when describing past examples.

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