Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-10-24

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)

SOME PEOPLE ARGUE THAT TOURISM IS THE FASTEST GROWING INDUSTRY AND CONTRIBUTES A GREAT DEAL TO ECONOMIES AROUND THE WORLD, WHEREAS SOME STATE THAT THE DAMAGE TOURISM CAN CAUSE TO LOCAL CULTURES AND ENVIRONMENT IS OFTEN IGNORED. TRAVELLING IS BECOMING ONE OF THE GREATEST HOBBIES OF PEOPLE WHICH LEADS TO MORE TOURIST AROUND THE WORLD. PEOPLE LOVE TO EXPLORE NEW AND UNEXPLORED PLACES WHICH PROVIDES A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO THE PEOPLE OF THAT COUNTRY OR STATE GIVING THEM A PROPER LIVELIHOOD AND FINANCIAL STABILITY. FOR EXAMPLE, KEDARNATH TEMPLE IN INDIA IS A HIDDEN GEM, BUT PEOPLE THERE DID NOT HAVE ANY PROPER INCOME BUT WITH INCREASED TOURISM PEOPLE HAD A CHANCE TO SMALL BUSINESS. BUT AS SAID "WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY" PEOPLE WERE HAPPY WITH TOURIST BUT NEGLECTED THE WELLBEING OF THAT PLACE. PEOPLE WERE LOSSING THEIR SPIRITUAL SIDE FOCUSING ONLY ON MONEY AND NOT ONLY THAT SURROUNDINGS WERE FILLED WITH GARBAGE AND POLLUTION. WHICH LED TO A FLASH FOOD IN THE YEAR 2014.MANY PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES, HOMES WERE DESTROYED, MANY PEOPLE MISSING. SO IN MY OPINION, I TOTALLY AGREE TOURSM IS HIGHLY AFFECTING THESE THINGS BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN WE HAVE TO STOP TOURSIM, INCREASING TOURISM IS NEVER A PROBLEM BUT MAINTAINING THE CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT WITH TOURIST PLAYS A VITAL ROLE IN THIS.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you agree that tourism can harm culture and the environment, while arguing that tourism should be managed rather than stopped. The Kedarnath example is relevant and gives support to both the economic benefit and the environmental cost. However, the response is 200 words, below the 250-word minimum; 19 words copied from the task prompt were not counted. This limits the space available to develop your ideas. The cultural impact is mentioned through “losing their spiritual side,” but this point is not explained, and the link between tourism, pollution and the 2014 flood needs clearer support. Develop each effect with specific explanation and examples, and make your conclusion more fully reflect the extent of your agreement.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response follows a broadly understandable sequence: tourism brings income, its growth can have harmful consequences, and tourism should therefore be managed. The example of Kedarnath also helps connect the economic and environmental points. However, the writing is presented as one long block, so the reader has little visual guidance through the argument. Connections between ideas are sometimes abrupt, particularly the move from people focusing on money to pollution and then to the flood. The repeated use of “but” and “not only that” does not always show the precise relationship between points. Use separate paragraphs for the introduction, benefits, harms and conclusion, and add clear linking phrases that explain cause and contrast.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “financial stability,” “livelihood,” “pollution” and “environment,” and the phrase “hidden gem” helps describe the destination. However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, such as “chance to small business,” “flash food” and “maintaining the culture and environment with tourist.” Spelling errors such as “tourism,” “losing” and “tourists” also reduce accuracy and can distract the reader. The vocabulary is adequate to communicate the main argument, but repeated general terms such as “people” and “things” limit precision. Choose more exact expressions and proofread spelling and collocations before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including the relative clause in “places which provides a great opportunity” and the contrast introduced by “but.” However, some sentence structures are incomplete or difficult to control. “Which led to a flash flood…” is a fragment, while “people had a chance to small business” lacks a grammatical construction. There are also agreement and article errors, as in “places which provides” and “the environment” being referred to without an article earlier. Punctuation is inconsistent, with several ideas joined into long sentences. Practise building complete sentences with clear subjects and verbs, and check agreement, articles and sentence boundaries.

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