Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-16

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 5.0)

Tourism is one of the most important industries in many countries, providing employment and generating income. However, some people belive that that negative effects on local culture and the environment are overlooked. I largely agree with this view.

In the first place, tourism can have a harmful effect on the environment. A large number of visitors can produce waste, increase pollution and put pressure on natural resources. For example, popular beaches and hill stations may be polluted because tourists leave plastic bottles and other rubbish behind. These problems are particularly serious in places where environmental regulations are weak.

Tourism can also affect local culture in a negative way. In some destinations, traditional customs and lifestyles have changed because tourism may go to ticing and plastic bottles and other rubber was through so the environment pollution. However, tourists go picnicking, so they do not throw away plastic there; it is the environment effect, and there is a ingnore torist people.

In conclusion, I agree with this view because tourism causes pollution, so the environment is affected, and there is a negative effect on the environment. There is ignorance.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position that tourism has negative effects on the environment and local culture that are often overlooked. However, the task achievement is significantly undermined by two major issues. First, the essay is severely under-length, containing only 187 words against the required 250-word minimum, which results in a clear penalty for incomplete task completion. Second, the development of ideas collapses in the third body paragraph, where the text becomes severely confused, repetitive, and disjointed (e.g. "because tourism may go to ticing and plastic bottles and other rubber was through..."). While the introduction and first body paragraph present relevant ideas with some development, the overall lack of completion and the breakdown in the final section limit this criterion to a Band 4.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay displays some basic attempts at logical organisation. The writing is divided into distinct paragraphs, starting with an introduction, followed by body paragraphs, and concluding with a brief summary. Cohesive devices such as "In the first place" and "In conclusion" are used to signal the structure of the essay. However, coherence breaks down seriously in the third paragraph, where sentences lack logical progression and referencing becomes obscure and unintelligible. The conclusion is also excessively repetitive rather than summarising the points cohesively. While the early paragraphs show a simple underlying progression, the severe disruption in the middle of the text prevents the essay from achieving a higher score. Overall, the organisational structure is faulty and mechanical in places, fitting the Band 5 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates a minimally adequate vocabulary range for discussing the topic of tourism and the environment. Words and phrases such as "generate income," "environmental regulations," and "natural resources" are used appropriately. However, the vocabulary is generally basic and repetitive, and spelling/word choice errors appear in the second half of the text, such as "belive," "ticing," and "ingnore torist people." Furthermore, the complete breakdown of vocabulary control in the third paragraph ("rubber was through," "environment effect") strains the reader's understanding. Because the lexical repertoire is limited and errors become noticeable and distracting towards the end, the writing aligns best with the Band 5 descriptors for Lexical Resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and moderately complex sentence forms. The writer successfully uses some complex structures, such as "A large number of visitors can produce waste, increase pollution and put pressure on natural resources" and "These problems are particularly serious in places where environmental regulations are weak." However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are spelling errors like "belive," and structural breakdowns in the third paragraph, such as "because tourism may go to ticing...", which produce ungrammatical and incomprehensible clauses. While the first half of the essay displays reasonable control over simple sentences, the frequency of grammatical and structural errors in the later sections causes difficulty for the reader, justifying a band score of 5.0.

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