Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-29

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 might be one of the most scintillating human fantasies ever. One can notice the gradual increase in tourism in the world which is closer to rapid. People love to go on tour, whether it is with family or friends. Either way it leaves a great impact. Nonetheless tourism has its fair share. The sole purpose of tourism is to experience the earthly grandeur. Yet often tourism leaves a negative effect. While it provides a massive advantage economically which i wholeheartedly agree, it also detriments the glamour of traditional and local environment and it is a fact that is really hard for me to contradict as i can demonstrate from my own experience as a tourist. Tourists are often outsides that come to visit. Most of the places for tourism are operated with strict bylaws while some convey no such rules. Tourists tend to obey those and be cooperative. But this is where they draw the line. Many tourists are so reckless and act unpleasantly. They don't follow the tradition and disregard the rules. It is something that affects both the place and the locals. Last year i visited Cox's Bazar and it was no different. People were throwing trash and garbage everywhere. From insulting the locals to behaving inappropriately there was no end to their recklessness. It put everyone's experience around them in jeopardy. Some of us just cannot help but ignore and move on. So at some extent i do agree that tourism helps a lot nationally or globally but i cannot say its all sunshine and flowers as local people have to go through extreme measures.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the task by presenting a clear position that tourism has both significant economic benefits and detrimental impacts on local cultures and environments. The position is maintained throughout the response, though the development of ideas leans towards generalisation rather than fully extended argumentation. For instance, the mention of Cox's Bazar provides a relevant personal example, but it is somewhat brief and anecdotal. While the ideas are relevant, they could be explored in greater depth to meet the higher band descriptors. Nevertheless, the prompt is adequately answered, placing the response securely in the Band 6 territory as it addresses all parts of the task with relevant ideas, though some are slightly under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay lacks proper paragraphing, presented instead as a single block of text. This significantly impacts the overall cohesion and makes the logical progression harder to follow for the reader. While there are some basic cohesive devices used such as 'Nonetheless', 'Yet', and 'While', referencing and transitions between ideas are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, sentences like 'Either way it leaves a great impact' and 'The sole purpose of tourism is to experience the earthly grandeur' feel disjointed from the surrounding sentences. Because the response is not divided into logical paragraphs and mechanical referencing is present, it aligns best with the Band 5 descriptors for Coherence and Cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'scintillating', 'earthly grandeur', and 'jeopardy'. However, there are notable word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'detriments the glamour' (detriments is used incorrectly as a verb) and 'so at some extent' instead of 'to some extent'. Additionally, capitalization errors occur with pronouns ('i'). Despite these errors, the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the writer's meaning without heavily impeding communication, fitting the Band 6 profile for Lexical Resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in structure. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation issues throughout the text, including run-on sentences and missing commas. Examples include 'While it provides a massive advantage economically which i wholeheartedly agree...' where the relative clause structure is flawed. Furthermore, lower-case 'i' is used consistently. While these errors do not completely obscure the meaning, they are frequent enough to cause some difficulty for the reader and prevent the response from achieving a Band 6.0.

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