Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · IELTS General Essentials · 2026-10-20

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)

The issue of wether zoos should be closed because animals no longer need to be keep in captivity has become increasingly controversial. While some people believe that keeping animals in zoos is cruel and unnecessary, i strongly disagree with the idea that all zoos should be clsed, as they play an important role in wildlife conservaton and public education.

One of the main arguments against zoos is that animals are often deprived of their natural habitate and freedom. in the wild, animals can roam freely, hunt for food and interact other members of theit species. In contrast, some zoos keep animals in small enclosures that do not meet their physical and psychological needs. For example, large animals such as elephants may suffer from stress when they are unable to move over longer distances. Therefore, poorly managed zoos should be closed or required to improve their living conditions.

However, well-managed zoos can make significant contributions to the protection of endangered species. many animals face serious threats in the wild because of habitat distruction, illegal hunting and climate change. zoos can provide safe environment for these animals and participate in breeding programmes to increase their populations. In some cases, animals bred in captivity can eventually be reintroduced into their natural habitats. Without such efforts,certain endangered species might face a greater risk of extinction.

Another important benifit of zoos is that they educate the public about wildlife and enviornmental protection.

In conclusion, although keeping animals in unsuitable conditions is unacceptable, I do not believe that all zoos should be closed. Instead, government should establish strict animal welfare standards and shut down facilities that fail to meet them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

Your position is clear from the introduction—“I strongly disagree”—and remains consistent in the conclusion. You address the central issue by acknowledging the welfare concerns associated with captivity, then explaining the conservation and educational value of well-managed zoos. The examples of elephants experiencing stress and captive breeding supporting endangered species help extend your reasoning, and your qualification that poorly managed facilities should close makes the response appropriately balanced. This fits a response that addresses the task and supports its main ideas. To strengthen the development further, explain more specifically how public education changes people’s behaviour or contributes to conservation; this benefit is introduced but not developed as fully as the other arguments. Avoid broad claims such as “zoos can provide safe environment” without clarifying the conditions required.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall progression: introduction and position, a paragraph presenting concerns, a counterargument based on conservation, and a conclusion with a practical recommendation. Transitions such as “In contrast,” “However,” and “In conclusion” make the relationship between points easy to follow. The paragraphing is also appropriate. At this level, however, cohesion is not consistently smooth: the education point appears as a separate sentence rather than being developed within a paragraph, so it feels disconnected from the conservation discussion. Some links between claims could be made more explicit—for example, connect the public-education benefit to your argument for keeping responsible zoos open. Consistent capitalization at sentence beginnings would also make the presentation more polished.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

You use an adequate range of topic vocabulary, including “captivity,” “enclosures,” “endangered species,” “breeding programmes,” and “reintroduced,” which helps communicate the main arguments clearly. There are also attempts at more precise expressions such as “physical and psychological needs” and “animal welfare standards.” However, spelling errors and some inaccurate word choices reduce the overall control: examples include “wether,” “habitate,” “distruction,” “benifit,” and “enviornmental.” Some phrasing is also imprecise, such as “safe environment” and “interact other members.” Check spelling carefully and build more natural collocations, especially when describing animal welfare and conservation. This would make the vocabulary more consistently accurate and flexible.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including a concession structure (“While some people believe…”) and a conditional sentence (“Without such efforts, certain endangered species might face…”). These structures help express contrast and consequences, and the meaning is generally clear. Some grammatical errors remain, however. For example, “animals no longer need to be keep in captivity” has an incorrect passive verb form, while “interact other members” is missing a required preposition. “Zoos can provide safe environment” also needs an article, and “government should establish” needs a determiner or plural form. Sentence-initial capitalization and punctuation are inconsistent. Review passive forms, articles, and preposition patterns to improve accuracy while retaining your varied sentence structures.

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