Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-18

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

The ease of international travel and the spread of various kinds of mass media all over the world have made it more possible than ever for people to know how other people live in other countries.

Do the advantages of this development outweigh the disadvantages?

You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience and support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence. Write at least 250 words.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Humans always excited to widen their mental horizon. Moreover, it is irrefutable that people know about other countries culture and lifestyle with traveling and mass media. In this essay, I would like to discuss their merit and demerits. Apart from this, I will give my own opinion in forthcoming paragraphs.

A fraction of individuals beleive that the tourism and social media has advantages since they give information of other countries culture and lifestyle. It inhance our knowledge. In addition, it helps in reduce the misunderstanding about their traditions and rituals. Besides, the public familiar with their method of agriculture as it helps to follow their method if suitable. For instance, the farmers use the foreign technology to grow their crops and a survey conducted by a prestigious newspaper of Britain claim that with the use of foreign modern technology they enhance their yield. On the top of that, the members of public adapt the ideas of other countries and it give them good results.

On the flip side, some people see their disadvantages. First and foremost, demrit is cultural erosion since individuals impressed with the culture of other countries and exchange their culture. Moreover, people started comparison of their country with other countries as they saw only drawbacks of their native country and hated it on the basis of comparison. For instance, tourists leave their own culture and adapt western culture.

To be more precise, I strongly believe that they have many good impact becuase it gives greener pastures to workers. Furthermore, they do part time job in western companies from their native country.

Different people have different notions regarding this statement but I have sound reasons to advocate that although it has some demerits yet it enhance our knowledge.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of international travel and mass media, and the writer provides a clear personal position throughout the essay. Ideas are presented, such as cultural understanding, agricultural advancements, and cultural erosion. However, several ideas remain somewhat under-developed and lack extension. For instance, the point regarding farmers and foreign technology is introduced with an example, but the explanation is brief and jumps quickly to other points. Similarly, the conclusion introduces a new idea about part-time jobs in western companies which was not previously discussed, weakening the development of the main argument. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, fulfilling the requirements for a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion, though the paragraphing shows some structural quirks, such as very short concluding paragraphs that disrupt the flow. Cohesive devices are used, but they are sometimes mechanical or repetitive, such as the frequent use of 'moreover', 'besides', and 'first and foremost'. Referencing is generally clear, but logical progression between sentences occasionally falters, particularly in the body paragraphs where distinct ideas are clustered together without sufficient transitional explanation. For instance, the transition from agricultural technology to public adoption of foreign ideas feels abrupt. These characteristics align closely with the Band 6 descriptor.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'irrefutable', 'cultural erosion', and 'prestigious'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'beleive' instead of believe, 'inhance' instead of enhance, 'demrit' instead of demerit, and 'becuase' instead of because. Furthermore, some collocations are awkward or inaccurate, such as 'started comparison of their country' instead of 'started comparing their country'. While these errors do not impede overall communication, they prevent the writer from achieving a higher band score, placing this response firmly at Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over sentence structure with clauses introduced by 'as', 'since', and 'although'. However, grammatical errors are frequent throughout the response. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues like 'Humans always excited' instead of 'Humans are always excited', missing articles such as 'with traveling' instead of 'through traveling', and tense inconsistencies. Punctuation is also occasionally faulty, with double spaces and missed capitalization in places. While these errors do not fully obscure the meaning, their frequency prevents the majority of sentences from being error-free, making a Band 5.0 score appropriate for this criterion.

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

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