Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-14
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries and contributes a great deal to economies around the world. However, the damage tourism can cause to local cultures and the environment is often ignored.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Student answer (Band 5.5)
Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries and contributes a great deal to economies around the world.However, the damage tourism can cause to local cultures and the environment is often ignored. I totally agree with the first statement but I do not see any local cultural damage due to tourism but environment sometimes get effected not only by tourists but also by citizens of the country.
People travel to different countries to explore places and cultures. When tourists reach their destinations, they have to pay for accommodations, food, transport and tour guides. All these expenditures of tourists will be beneficial for residants and the government of those countries. As money flow will become better and economy of the country will grow. Therefore, tourism plays crucial role in the growth of economies.
Some people think that tourism can cause damage to local cultures.Personally, I do not agree with this. In my opinion, people visit other countries to explore more about traditions, cultures and to interact with people of those countries. Local cultures instead of get damaged can become more popular in other countries due to travellers from across the world.
As far the environment is concerned, I believe that it is the responsibility of authorities to make sure visitors or any residants do not pollute environment. The governments should make some strict rules for cleanliness and ban inappropriate activities not only for tourists but also for residants of the country.
In conclusion, I believe that tourism is beneficial for economy of every country around the world and there is nothing detrimental for local cultures. However, official should made some laws for clenliness and inapproperiate activities so that the environment remain healthy for everyone.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by discussing the economic benefits of tourism and refuting the claims regarding cultural and environmental damage, presenting a clear position throughout. However, some ideas are somewhat simplistic and under-developed, particularly the dismissal of environmental damage caused by tourists by shifting blame to citizens. While all parts of the prompt are addressed, the arguments lack depth and nuance, falling short of the fully extended and supported ideas required for a Band 7. Therefore, a Band 6.0 is appropriate as it presents a relevant position with sufficient main ideas, though development is limited in places.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is divided into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, separate body paragraphs addressing the economy, culture, and environment, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'Therefore', 'In my opinion', and 'In conclusion' are used to connect ideas. However, referencing and progression are sometimes mechanical or abrupt, and minor organizational flaws appear, such as the sudden shift in the conclusion regarding laws. Overall arrangement is coherent, matching the Band 6 descriptor where cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms like 'expenditures', 'beneficial', 'detrimental', and 'traditions'. However, there are several noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'residants' (residents), 'effected' (affected), 'As far the environment' (As far as the environment is concerned), and 'official should made' (officials should make). These inaccuracies do not impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to Band 5.5 because the vocabulary control lacks the precision and consistency expected at Band 6.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The essay attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'When tourists reach their destinations, they have to pay for accommodations...' and conditional-style reasoning. However, there are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('environment sometimes get effected', 'money flow will become better'), missing prepositions ('As far the environment'), and tense/form errors ('official should made'). These errors occasionally cause slight strain for the reader, aligning the grammar squarely with the Band 5 descriptors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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