Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-14

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people say that the main environmental problem of our time is the loss of particular species of plants and animals. Others say that there are more important environmental problems.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

People have different opinions about whether loss of certain species of plants and animals are the leading cause of environmental hazard or there are greater issue that contribute to environment problems. While both persceptives have some benefits, personally I believe there are more important factors that can contribute to environmental problems. This essay will discuss both side and give my opinion.

On the one hand, the primary reason why some people feel that extinction of some certain species of plants and animals are the dominant cause of environment problems is distortion in protection of the environment and reduce animals conversational activities. Firstly, some trees serve as a major shield to the environment and these benefits include breaking of strong winds and some plants serve as food to some animals. These destructions are majorly caused by human activities such as deforsetation and this is causing a major issue to the ozone layer. For instance, constructional activities may lead to clearing and burning of some trees which produces smokes that affect the environment. Secondly, animals that are meant for conversational activities are been hunted them and this has caused a major disorganisation in wild life kingdoms.

On the other hand, I completely agree that there are other factors that constitue more problems to the habitat such as release of vechiles fumes into the environment. This cause a major pollution to human health and the atmosphere. For examples, excessive inhalation of vechiles fumes can result into lungs problem. Futhermore, release of industrial chemical to the rivers and steams are hazadarous to both humans and animals.Therefore, human activities causes more damages to the environment than loss of some plants and animal species.

In conclusion, although loss of some essential vegetaions and animals species have some effect on the environment, I believe there more important factors that contribute to global problems suc as gases release from vehicles and industrial by-products that are being release into rivers and streams.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views—that animal and plant extinction is the main environmental problem, and that other issues are more significant—while also presenting a clear personal opinion. Ideas are extended with examples, such as mentioning deforestation and vehicle fumes. However, some arguments lack complete clarity and development, particularly the explanation regarding species loss and conversational activities, which drifts slightly into confused phrasing. Overall, the student covers the required task adequately and maintains a clear position throughout, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is arranged into an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion, demonstrating a clear overall progression. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct views. Cohesive devices are employed to signal transitions, such as 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand'. However, referencing and cohesion are occasionally faulty or mechanical, as seen in repetitive sentence structures and some awkward cohesive links like 'These destructions are majorly caused'. Nevertheless, the progression of ideas remains easy to follow, making this a solid Band 6 performance.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting less common terms such as 'distortion', 'deforestation', and 'by-products'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice inaccuracies throughout the text, including 'persceptives' instead of perspectives, 'conversational' instead of conservation, 'constitue' instead of constitute, and 'hazadarous' instead of hazardous. Additionally, the phrase 'animals that are meant for conversational activities are been hunted them' demonstrates significant lexical and grammatical awkwardness. These errors do not entirely impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures. However, frequent grammatical errors occur across the text, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('loss of certain species... are the leading cause'), passive voice errors ('are been hunted them'), and preposition misusages ('result into'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but structural inaccuracies are frequent enough to cause occasional difficulty for the reader. The control of grammar aligns best with the Band 5 descriptors, where attempts at complex structures are often faulty.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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