Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-13

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 6.5)

It is widely acknowledged that tourism has become an integral part of human life. Many individuals around the world visit places, that have harsh weather conditions such as Antarctica and Sahara desert. The given situation has both advantages and disadvantages, which will be discussed in this essay.

On the one hand, there are a plethora of advantages for visiting such places. The main advantage is to learn about the history and traditions of places. If visitors do not visit these places, they will not become familiar with the difficulties faced by local residents to survive in daily life. Although, social media can help to get an idea at some extent, offline visits can give real-life experience. To illustrate, in Antarctica temperature ranges between -15c and -45c throughout a year. Hence, harshness of weather cannot be felt over Youtube, it can be only experienced by visiting.

On the other hand, there are many disadvantages too. The primary disadvantage is health issues. If tourists do not prepare according to a surrounding conditions, they might have to suffer from detrimental health effects. To illustrate, to survive in cooler regions individuals should have a good quality jacket otherwise they might begin experiencing cold and fever. Furthermore, another disadvantage is a network issue. If tourists go away from a residential area, it become difficult to get back as there are several network issues. Therefore, it is crucial to know a local area before proceeding ahead.

To sum up, while visiting places with harsh weather can help improve visitors' knowledge by knowing the culture and traditions, they might also have to suffer from illness if proper preparations are not done.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses both the benefits and disadvantages of visiting extreme environments. The position is clear, and the ideas are relevant. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the argument regarding 'network issues' as a disadvantage is a bit weak and could have been expanded to discuss the broader risks of isolation or lack of emergency services. The examples provided, such as the temperature in Antarctica, are relevant but could be more deeply integrated into the argument to show a more sophisticated understanding of the topic. Overall, the response covers all parts of the task sufficiently.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the benefits from the disadvantages. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'To illustrate', and 'To sum up' are used to guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there is occasional awkwardness in the flow of ideas, such as the transition between the health issues and the network issues in the second body paragraph. Despite these minor issues, the progression of ideas is clear throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task. You use some good collocations like 'integral part', 'harsh weather conditions', and 'detrimental health effects'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and phrasing, such as 'get an idea at some extent' (should be 'to some extent') and 'proceeding ahead' (which is redundant). The range of vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, but it lacks the sophistication and precision required for a higher band score. Expanding your range of topic-specific vocabulary would be beneficial.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'visit places, that have' (incorrect comma usage), 'harshness of weather cannot be felt over Youtube' (missing article 'the'), and 'it become difficult' (subject-verb agreement error). Additionally, 'according to a surrounding conditions' contains an unnecessary article. These errors occur frequently but do not impede communication. To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement and the correct use of articles and punctuation.

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