Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-17

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)

In recent years tourism has become most popular industries around the world and it plays an important role in our country's economies. Howevere, our government does not pay any attention on the causes which creat by tourism and the negative effect of tourism on our environment. I strogly agree with that, tourism effect badly the culture of our country and destroy the environment. There are some common causes which have seen in many areas of tourism.

On the one hand, tourism is beneficial for economies. It creates thousands of jobs for local people, such as hotel staff, tour guides and drivers. Furthermore, it brings foreign exchange to the country, which helps government improve infrastructure. For example, in pakistan's northern areas like hunza and swat, many local earn their livelihood entirely through tourism. Therefore, its economic important cannot be denied.

However, tourism often causes severe environmental degration. To accommodate more tourists, forests are cut down to build hotels and resorts, which destroys natural habitats. Morever, tourists leave behind plastic bottles, wrappers and other litter, which pollutes beautiful landscapes. For instance, popular tourist sports like muree and naran have become overcrowded and polluted due to unmanaged tourism. Traffic congestion from tourist vehicles also leads to air pollution and noise, which disturbe local wildlife.

In addition to environmental damage, tourism leads to cultural erosion. Local people sometimes abandon their traditional lifestyles, clothing, and language to imitate tourists in order to earn money. As a result, authentic culture loses its value.

In conclusion, while tourism is a booming industry that boosts economies, its harmful effects on the environment and local cultures are signiificant and aften ignored. Government should therefore promote sustainable tourism to minimize these nagative impacts.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, taking a clear and well-supported position that tourism causes significant damage to both the environment and local cultures despite its economic benefits. The writer presents relevant arguments, such as job creation and foreign exchange on the one hand, and environmental degradation and cultural erosion on the other. Ideas are extended with specific examples, such as reference to northern areas in Pakistan like Hunza, Swat, Muree, and Naran. However, some arguments lack deeper elaboration, keeping the task response at a solid Band 6.5 to 7.0 level. The position is maintained consistently from the introduction through to the conclusion, ensuring the central topic is fully addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a clear overall progression and logical organisation. Paragraphing is used appropriately, with distinct sections for the introduction, economic benefits, environmental damage, cultural erosion, and conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed to link ideas, such as 'On the one hand,' 'Furthermore,' 'However,' and 'In addition to environmental damage.' However, referencing and transitions are at times slightly mechanical. For example, the sentence 'There are some common causes which have seen in many areas of tourism' sits awkwardly before moving into the body paragraphs. Overall, the logical structure is sound and meets the requirements for a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, incorporating topic-specific terms such as 'foreign exchange,' 'infrastructure,' 'environmental degradation,' 'natural habitats,' 'traffic congestion,' and 'cultural erosion.' However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'Howevere' instead of 'However,' 'creat' instead of 'created,' 'strogly' instead of 'strongly,' 'effect' used as a verb where 'affect' is needed, 'degration' instead of 'degradation,' 'sports' instead of 'spots,' 'disturbe' instead of 'disturbs,' 'signiificant' instead of 'significant,' 'aften' instead of 'often,' and 'nagative' instead of 'negative.' These errors indicate a Band 6.0 level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at subordination and relative clauses, such as 'which helps government improve infrastructure' and 'forests are cut down to build hotels and resorts, which destroys natural habitats.' However, control over grammar and punctuation is inconsistent. There are recurrent mistakes with articles and word forms, such as 'most popular industries' instead of 'one of the most popular industries,' 'attention on' instead of 'attention to,' and missing capitalization on proper nouns like 'pakistan.' Furthermore, subject-verb agreement issues occur, such as 'many local earn' instead of 'many locals earn' and 'Government should' instead of 'Governments should.' These errors occasionally require the reader to slow down, supporting a Band 6.0 score.

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