Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-10-23

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 has become an important part of every country's economy. However, it is often said to have a negative effects on local cultures and the environment. While I agree that there are some drawbacks, I believe the benefits are greater than the disadvantages.

One major advantage of tourism is that it helps countries' economically and socially. For example, it allows people to experience new adventures, to discover new cultures and to explore hidden gems. one other important advantage tourism offers, is helping countries to develop their economic aspects through participating in improving the country's budget and through supporting the local brands. Visiting hotels, museums and historical places benefit the country a lot. Tourists can also help to bring more aknowledgment to the country through sharing their trips' adventures with their family and friends.

However, tourism can also lead to problems. For example in the culture aspect , some tourists do not respect the destination they are visitng , they treat their culture in a racist way , they misbehave and do not follow the legal rules made by the county. Moreover, this causes several problems with the locals and it can affect the country's brand. In addition, tourists can also damage the countries' environment by throwing rubish in public spaces, treating them as a private bellongings when they should in fact respect their surroundings.

In conclusion, although tourismm has some negative effects , in my opinion i believe its positive impact on a country economically makes it more benefcial overall.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you acknowledge tourism’s harms but argue that its economic benefits are greater. You address both sides, giving relevant examples such as support for local businesses and damage caused by littering. However, the response only partly develops the task. The economic benefits are listed, but the link between tourism and wider social or economic gains is not explained in detail; likewise, the cultural and environmental harms are described generally rather than supported with a specific example. The conclusion repeats your view without drawing together the reasons. To strengthen the response, explain how each example demonstrates the scale of the benefits or harms, and make the comparison behind your overall judgement more explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on benefits, a paragraph on drawbacks, and a conclusion. This makes the main line of argument easy to follow. You also use basic linking expressions such as “However,” “For example,” and “In addition” to signal relationships between ideas. At times, though, the progression within paragraphs is less clear: the benefits paragraph moves from personal experiences to national budgets and then to sharing trips, without fully connecting these points. Some linking is mechanical, and punctuation around transitions is inconsistent. Group related points more deliberately and use clearer references to show how each example supports your position.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “local cultures,” “historical places,” “local brands,” and “public spaces.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “hidden gems.” However, the range is limited and several inaccurate or misspelled choices make the writing less precise, including “aknowledgment,” “rubish,” “bellongings,” and “benefcial.” Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “helps countries’ economically” and “improving the country’s budget.” Aim for accurate collocations and word forms, and check spelling carefully. More precise terms for tourism’s economic effects and cultural or environmental damage would help express your ideas with greater clarity.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a concession in the introduction (“While I agree…”) and a conditional structure (“when they should in fact respect…”). The main meaning is generally understandable, but errors occur often enough to affect accuracy. Examples include “it is often said to have a negative effects,” where the article and plural noun do not agree, and “people to experience… to discover… and to explore,” where the construction is awkwardly controlled. There are also sentence-boundary and punctuation problems, such as the lower-case “one” after a full stop and spaces before commas. Practise checking subject–verb agreement, articles, and sentence boundaries, while keeping complex sentences manageable.

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