Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-29

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)

Some people these days state that, environmetal issues at the present time is due to extinction of particular plants and animals while others say that there are many other main reasons. In my opinion, loss of some plants and animals is not only the reason for environmental problems but, there are many more reasons apart from this, such as pollution and deforestation.

Nowadays, deplition of specific plants and animals had contributed to environmental challenges in many ways. There's a food chain present where, everyone is dependent on each other. Therefore, if one plant or animal became lost, it will destroy all the food cycle which impacts the environment.This creates irregularity in the nature and become worse afterwards. For instance, sheep is dependent on the grass, if there's no grass, population of sheep will fall.

On the other hand, shortfall of plants and animals is not only the reason in this case. There is a dramatical increase of the pollution everywhere, then it might be of water, air or noice. Many big industrialist nowadays cut down the forest for constructing factories and big buildings which cause environmental loss. This leads to loss of many animals and also cause many wild animals to travel to human habitation and bulid fear in there lives. Moreover, industrial wastage is directly contaminated into water bodies cause water pollution and becomes a reason for the loss of water animals.

In conclusion, some people argue that decline of various plants and animals are the reason for environmental issues whereas, some others think that there's many other reasons. To sum up, plants and animals together with pollution and many other causes lead to nature loss.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views—that the loss of specific plants and animals is the main environmental problem, and that other issues are more significant—while also providing a clear personal opinion. The introduction outlines the two viewpoints, and the body paragraphs elaborate on them. For example, the student explains the impact of species loss using a food chain argument and contrasts this with pollution and deforestation. However, the ideas are somewhat generalized and could be more fully developed with deeper explanation. For instance, the example of sheep and grass is very basic. Despite these minor limitations in depth, all parts of the task are addressed, earning a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a clear overall progression with standard paragraphing dividing the introduction, body arguments, and conclusion. Cohesive devices are used to link ideas, such as 'On the other hand' and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, sentences like 'There's a food chain present where, everyone is dependent on each other' contain awkward phrasing and punctuation errors that disrupt the flow. Furthermore, the concluding paragraph unnecessarily repeats the prompt wording rather than effectively synthesizing the arguments presented. These mechanical cohesive errors and repetitive concluding remarks place this criterion firmly at a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student attempts a range of vocabulary relevant to the topic, including terms like 'extinction', 'deforestation', 'industrial wastage', and 'habitation'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, such as 'environmetal' instead of 'environmental', 'deplition' instead of 'depletion', 'noice' instead of 'noise', and 'bulid' instead of 'build'. Additionally, collocations are occasionally unnatural, such as 'loss of water animals' instead of 'aquatic life'. While the vocabulary is adequate to communicate the central ideas of the task, the persistent errors in spelling and precision restrict the score to a Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, attempting conditional structures ('if there's no grass, population of sheep will fall') and relative clauses. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are numerous errors in articles, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions, such as 'loss of various plants and animals are' instead of 'is', and 'contaminated into water bodies cause' instead of 'causing'. Punctuation errors, such as unnecessary commas before dependent clauses, also occur frequently. Although these errors do not completely impede communication, their frequency means the sentence structures lack the consistent control required for a higher band, justifying a score of 5.5.

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