Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-08-09

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

We no longer need to have animals kept in zoos, so zoos should be closed.

Do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Every form of life on earth should have the freedom to choose, therefore many people demand to shut down operations of zoos and let animals enjoy their lives in their natural habitat. I concur with this statement and in my opinion, action to close zoos should be taken as soon as possible.

Earlier in time before technological advancements, advocates would give an argument to have zoos as a place to educate children through occasional school visits but this reason does not hold the argument strong anymore. Evidently, children now have better resources at their convenience such as the internet to learn about animals. Wild animals are forced to live in confined spaces artificially mimicked to their home that affects their mental and physical capabilities over time. For instance, during one of my zoo visits in childhood saw the officials taking care of a monkey suffering from depression after being constant human exposure daily over less of its kind.

In well developed nations, this concern is already being dealt by promoting conservation areas instead of zoos. Serving dual purpose, wildlife conservation areas gives space and natural habitat to fauna while allowing people to visit through safari service. This approach supports good cognitive and non-cognitive well being of animals and is well suited for children as well to visit and learn through it. Nowadays, zoos primarily serves a commercial and imperative purpose of attracting tourists for authorities to get monetary benefits by selling tickets.

Overall, zoos are largely commercialized and do not put much emphasis on it's drawbacks on animals. Moreover, children also do not need to visit zoos for fulfilling their educational objectives, therefore I believe that it is not the best decision to have operational zoos anymore.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

You have clearly stated your position in the introduction and maintained it throughout the essay. The ideas are relevant, particularly the argument regarding the obsolescence of zoos for education due to the internet and the suggestion of conservation areas as a superior alternative. However, the development of these points could be more nuanced. For instance, the example of the monkey is a bit anecdotal and lacks broader context. To reach a higher band, ensure that each body paragraph fully explores the implications of your arguments rather than just stating them. Overall, you have addressed all parts of the prompt effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized, with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You use cohesive devices such as 'Evidently', 'For instance', and 'Moreover' to link your ideas. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and the flow between sentences could be smoother. For example, the transition between the second and third paragraphs could be improved to better connect the critique of zoos with the proposed alternative of conservation areas. Paragraphing is used appropriately, and the progression of ideas is generally easy to follow throughout the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

You demonstrate a sufficient range of vocabulary to convey your ideas with precision. Phrases like 'technological advancements', 'confined spaces', and 'cognitive and non-cognitive well being' show a good grasp of topic-specific language. There are some minor issues with word choice and collocation, such as 'does not hold the argument strong' (should be 'does not make the argument strong') and 'imperative purpose' (which is slightly redundant). Despite these minor inaccuracies, the vocabulary is varied enough to allow for clear communication of your arguments.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While many sentences are clear, there are several grammatical slips that occur throughout the text. For example, 'this concern is already being dealt by' should be 'dealt with by', and 'zoos primarily serves' should be 'zoos primarily serve'. Additionally, 'it's drawbacks' contains a common error; it should be the possessive 'its' without the apostrophe. While these errors do not impede communication, they indicate a need for more careful proofreading to ensure consistent accuracy in subject-verb agreement and preposition usage.

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