Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-11-10

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Today more and more tourists are visiting places where conditions are difficult, such as the Sahara desert or the Antarctic.

What are the benefits and disadvantages for tourists who visit such places?

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

 

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Nowadays, people are more interested travelling to new advantures place, so the majority of people prefer travelling to popular tourist destinations where servival conditions are challenging, like the Sahara desert or the Antarctic. Although these destinations attract many adventours tourists, I believe that visiting such places has several disadvantages, especially related to health, safety and the environment.

One major disadvantage is the risk to people's health and safety. These destinations often have extreme weather conditions, which can be dangerous for visitors. For example, many people who travle to the Sahara desert may suffer from dehydration because of the extremely hot weather. Similarly, tourists travelling to Antractic may face serious problem due to freezing tempeartures. Moreover, if someome becomes sick or get injuried in the remote areas, it can be difficult to get immediate medical help.

Another important disadvantage is environmental damage. A large number of tourists can create pullation by leaving plastic bottles, foos waster and other rubbish behind. Furthermore, visitors may disturb wild animals and damage their natural habitats. For instance, too many visitors in Antractic acn disturb penguins and other wildlife. As aresult, these beautiful places may loose their original beauty.

In addition traving to such destinations can be very expensive. Tourists often need special equipments, experienced guides and expensive transportion, which increases the overall cost of the trip.

instead of providing better experiences.

In conclusion, although visiting unusual and challenging destinations can be exciting experience, I personally believe that the health risks, the environmental damages and high expenses make such trips disadvantages

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You take a clear position that the disadvantages outweigh the benefits, and you develop relevant points about health and safety, environmental harm, and cost. The examples of dehydration in the Sahara and disturbance to Antarctic wildlife help make two points more concrete. However, the task asks for both benefits and disadvantages, and the response gives almost no explanation of benefits: the brief reference to an “exciting experience” is not developed. The cost paragraph is also incomplete and includes the disconnected fragment “instead of providing better experiences,” so its point is unclear. To strengthen the response, explain at least one specific benefit, such as adventure or learning about remote environments, and complete and support the cost argument.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for disadvantages, and a conclusion. Linking expressions such as “For example,” “Moreover,” and “In conclusion” help signal relationships between ideas. However, progression is weakened by the incomplete cost paragraph and the isolated sentence fragment “instead of providing better experiences,” which does not connect clearly to the preceding sentence. Some transitions are also mechanical, and the conclusion repeats the disadvantages without bringing the discussion of benefits into the overall judgement. Use complete paragraphs, connect each supporting detail explicitly to its main point, and ensure the conclusion reflects both sides of the question.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “extreme weather conditions,” “dehydration,” “remote areas,” “natural habitats,” and “wildlife.” These choices communicate the main ideas and show an attempt to discuss the topic specifically. However, spelling errors and inaccurate word forms are frequent enough to make the writing less fluent, for example “advantures,” “servival,” “travle,” “Antractic,” and “pullation.” Some phrases are also imprecise, such as “challenging destinations” and “environmental damages.” Proofread carefully and build a more accurate range of collocations for travel and environmental impacts; this will make your meaning clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and complex sentences, including a concession in “Although these destinations attract…” and conditional structures such as “if someone becomes sick…”. These attempts help you express cause, contrast, and consequences. However, errors in sentence construction and grammatical forms recur. For example, “people are more interested travelling” is missing a required grammatical pattern, while “if someone becomes sick or get injured” has inconsistent verb agreement. The cost section also contains a sentence fragment, and the conclusion lacks a complete, well-formed final clause. Practise accurate verb patterns, agreement, articles, and complete sentence boundaries, then check each sentence for a clear subject and verb.

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