Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-11-03

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)

It is often argued that the international access through mass media and transportation system around the globe enhance the awareness about lives of people. The advantages of the impact outweigh the disadvantages.

Firstly, people have saveral mediums of transportation present to travel from one destination to another all around the world through airplanes, trains, and local transaport system, the time cost has reduced considerabely, the modern transport system enable the people to access the world within blink of eye. Secondly, the mass media and several kind of medium of information aware everyone about the cultures, traditions, and lifestyles of different countries. For instance if someone wants to gain information and knowledge about the education system of a particular country, the information is given on the websites of the instution which is accessable for everyone. Likewise, it is easy to dug the information about the policies, procedures and laws of any country before travelling.

On the other hand, the drawbacks are also exist, some people are reluctant to use the mass media as the privacy of the public is compromised, the platforms on social media sometimes resulted to hacking and financial losses.

Overall, the social accessablity is indespensible in modern era for every individual, and the benefits are unimagineable.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You give a clear overall view that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, and you address both sides of the question. Your points about learning about other countries’ education systems and checking laws before travelling are relevant, with an example of using institutional websites. However, the advantages are not fully explained: the transport point mainly says travel is faster, rather than showing how this helps people understand other ways of life. The disadvantage is also narrow, focusing on privacy, hacking and financial loss without explaining how these affect cross-cultural awareness. The response is below the required 250 words, which limits the development and support of your ideas. Extend each main point with a clear explanation and a specific example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, a paragraph presenting advantages, a paragraph on disadvantages, and a concluding statement. Sequencing words such as “Firstly,” “Secondly,” “On the other hand,” and “Overall” help signal the direction of the argument. However, the advantages paragraph combines several ideas in a long sentence, making the relationship between transport, media and awareness less clear. The conclusion repeats the general position but does not summarise the main reasons. Some links are mechanical, and the shift from learning about cultures to checking laws is abrupt. Use separate paragraphs for distinct ideas, connect each example explicitly to the question, and make the conclusion reflect the argument developed.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “mass media,” “cultures,” “traditions,” “lifestyles,” “education system,” and “privacy.” These choices make the subject clear, and phrases such as “financial losses” are appropriate. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation and spelling errors reduce precision, including “international access,” “time cost,” “dug the information,” and “social accessablity.” Repeated use of broad terms such as “information” and “people” also makes the discussion less specific. Aim for accurate collocations and more precise language to describe cultural exchange and its effects. Proofread spelling carefully, and choose expressions that convey the intended meaning directly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a conditional example beginning “if someone wants to gain information” and a contrast introduced by “On the other hand.” The main ideas are generally understandable, but errors occur frequently and sometimes make sentence relationships difficult to follow. For example, “the international access … enhance” has a subject–verb agreement problem, while “the drawbacks are also exist” uses an incorrect verb construction. The long sentence beginning “Firstly” joins several clauses without clear control, and articles and sentence boundaries are often missing or awkward. Practise building accurate sentences with one main idea each, then add subordinate clauses and check agreement, articles and punctuation.

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