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 the current societal landscape, tourism becomes the one of the fastest growing industries which put an emphasising impact in the growth of economies around the world. However, it is often allege that damage that tourism causes to local cultures and environment is often ignored. I fully agree with this statement and this essay will discuss why.
The major reason to support this statement is that tourist throw wrappers and plastics on roads which later get mix with clean water. Moreover, it also affects the soil aswell as temperature also. Specially take Kedarnath for instance, where temperature rises due to increase in tourism and people throw mainly plastic bottles here and there then this plastic dumped into clean river because of poor managemment there. Another reason reason to support my view is that tourist argue and fight with the local communities which also disturb there peaceful life. As recently conflicts happened in uttarakhand due to misunderstanding between local people and tourist just regarding the payment.
On other side, tourism open wide range of income sources for local communities because in mountains there are less number of employment facilities so local people open hotels and shop with the help of which they can manage their expenses. Although, government should deal with environment problem and proper dustbins should be installed at each kilometer.
To sum up, I fully agree with this statement because tourism put a great impact on environment by throwing waste on roads and water. Goverment should take responsibilty for proper the management.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses the prompt by clearly stating a position agreeing with the statement, noting that tourism causes damage to local cultures and the environment. Main ideas are introduced, such as pollution in tourist areas and cultural friction, with examples like Kedarnath and Uttarakhand. However, these ideas lack full extension and deep development. The counter-argument is briefly mentioned in the third paragraph, acknowledging economic benefits, but it is somewhat underdeveloped and integrated hastily. Overall, the response fulfills the basic requirements of Task 2 by presenting a clear position and supporting it with relevant, albeit somewhat basic, examples, aligning with a Band 5.5 to 6.0 performance level.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0
The essay is divided into four paragraphs with an overall logical arrangement, including an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. However, cohesion at the sentence level is frequently faulty or mechanical, with repetitive transitional phrases like 'Another reason reason to support my view' and abrupt shifts between ideas. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and paragraphing is visible but could be improved, particularly regarding the third paragraph which introduces a counter-argument and a solution simultaneously. These organizational issues point clearly to a Band 5.0 level.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate basic ideas about tourism, the environment, and local communities. However, there is a limited range with frequent inappropriate word choices and collocations, such as 'put an emphasising impact', 'tourist throw wrappers', 'temperature also', and 'poor managemment'. Spelling errors are also present, including 'managemment', 'aswell', and 'Goverment'. While communication is maintained, these noticeable limitations and errors restrict the score to a Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'The major reason to support this statement is that tourist throw wrappers...' and 'Although, government should deal with environment problem...'. However, grammatical control is weak, with frequent errors in articles, pluralisation ('tourist throw', 'local people open hotels and shop'), verb forms ('tourism becomes', 'it is often allege'), and punctuation. These frequent errors can occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, placing the grammar performance firmly at a Band 5.0 level.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.