Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-11-04

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)

Many people have decided to reduce the number of times they fly each year or to stop flying altogether. I do not think the environmental benefits of the development out perform the disadvantages for people and organizations, as it costs money and time to travel and it puts a brake to the overseas development projects.

Firstly, individuals and business persons have to travel to various destinations for business or emergencies, and the fastest way to reach is through flights. An airplane can travel to various destination quickly than most vehicles. A bus taking 8 hours could be travelled just by 45 minutes through aeroplane. In particular, if a person has to take an emergency surgery or an enterpreneur has to attend an important meeting, their fastest travel to save their lifes, time, and business is to travel by plane.

Secondly, stopping flying altogether could lead the country to have under development projects, as many growing projects are performed with the help of foregin companies and technologies. An airplane helps to reduce the distance and manages time for various other things. For instance, if two countries have a disagreement in certain topic, rather than taking 24 hour long bus, they could fly directly to the nation and solve the ever-going problem between two parties.

In conclusion, flying is very essential and reducing the flying number or completely stopping it would rather bring serval problems that harm not only individuals and companies, but also to the nation, since time and money management alongside development projects are necessary for the growth of the world altogether.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you argue that the disadvantages of reducing or stopping flights outweigh the environmental benefits. You also address impacts on individuals and businesses, using examples such as emergency travel and overseas projects. However, the response gives little attention to the environmental benefits named in the question, so the comparison is not fully developed. Some support is also unclear or over-generalised: the example of travelling to resolve a disagreement between countries does not explain why flying less would prevent this, and the claim that reduced flights would cause underdevelopment needs more explanation. Develop both sides of the comparison and connect each example directly to your argument.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two body paragraphs signalled by “Firstly” and “Secondly,” and a conclusion. The main ideas generally progress from individual and business travel to development projects, so the reader can follow the overall argument. However, the linking is somewhat mechanical, and some connections between claims and examples are not clear. For instance, the example about resolving a disagreement between countries does not clearly support the point about development projects. The conclusion repeats the main position but adds little synthesis. Use clearer links between each topic sentence, explanation, and example, and make references such as “it” or “this development” unambiguous.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to communicate the main argument, including topic-related terms such as “environmental benefits,” “development projects,” and “emergency surgery.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “puts a brake” and “ever-going problem,” but these are not natural in context. Several spelling and word-choice errors—“enterpreneur,” “foregin,” “serv(al) problems,” and “lifes”—reduce accuracy, while phrases such as “business persons” and “under development projects” are awkward. These issues do not prevent the reader from understanding the general message, but they limit precision and naturalness. Focus on accurate collocations and check spelling, especially in key topic vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a conditional structure in “if a person has to take an emergency surgery…” and a subordinate clause beginning “since” in the conclusion. The overall meaning is usually understandable, but some grammatical errors affect clarity and control. For example, “An airplane can travel to various destination quickly than most vehicles” has problems with comparison and plural agreement, while “A bus taking 8 hours could be travelled just by 45 minutes” uses an incorrect passive construction. There are also issues with articles and sentence structure in “their fastest travel to save their lifes… is to travel by plane.” Practise comparative forms, verb patterns, and article use, then proofread complex sentences.

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