Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-18

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)

In recent years, a increasing the number of tourists have started visiting extreme conditions such as the s Sahara desert or the Antarctic. I things they gives different experience and other benefits but also they have several risks and disadvantages.

One of the major benefit of travelling destinations is that tourists can experience completely different from their daily life. for example, in Sahara deset, they can know local culture and take part of activities such as riding on camels. Similarly, in Antarctic , they can enjoy the wildlife, environment and learn about nature. that will give them chance to explore new things and get relax from their busy schudale.

Apart from this, there are various drawbacks of visiting in such kind of places such as dangerous and expensive. Extreme temperatures, less medical facalities and long distance from local areas can put into risks. For instance, a person travelling in Sahara could suffer from dehydrate because of high hot weather. On the other side, extremely cold temperature and unconditional weather can increase the challenges in travelling. If people are not well prepared.

There are other disadvantages such as visitors have to pay extensive money. A large number of people can impact the environment by disturbing wildlife and by increasing the pollution in sensitive areas. therefore, tourism companies and government need to introduce the strict rules about saving to environment.

In conclusion, Although, there are various advantages of visiting in risky conditional areas such as developed experience and knowledges about nature, but it is also risky , costly and harmful to environment. In my opinion, government should make the strict rules about protecting the environment.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: benefits and disadvantages of visiting extreme environments. The position is clear throughout, and the ideas are relevant. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the benefits are mentioned briefly, and the disadvantages, while more detailed, could be further supported with more specific examples or deeper analysis. The conclusion summarizes the points effectively, but the overall development remains at a basic level. To reach a higher band, you should aim to expand on your points with more depth and provide more nuanced explanations for why these locations are attractive or problematic.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. You use some cohesive devices such as 'for example', 'similarly', 'apart from this', and 'therefore'. However, the use of these devices is sometimes mechanical or slightly inaccurate, such as the transition 'on the other side' used to introduce a new point rather than a contrast. Additionally, there are some issues with referencing and sentence-level flow, such as the sentence 'If people are not well prepared,' which is a sentence fragment. Improving the variety and precision of your linking words will help the flow of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to convey your meaning clearly. You use some topic-specific terms like 'extreme conditions', 'wildlife', and 'sensitive areas'. However, there are several errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'a increasing the number', 'get relax', 'high hot weather', and 'risky conditional areas'. These errors occasionally distract the reader. To improve, focus on learning common collocations and ensuring that you use words in their correct grammatical form (e.g., 'dehydration' instead of 'dehydrate').

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there is a high frequency of grammatical errors. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('tourists have started', 'they gives'), article usage ('the s Sahara'), and sentence fragments ('If people are not well prepared.'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma usage and capitalization. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to lower the score. You should focus on proofreading for basic errors like subject-verb agreement and ensuring that every sentence has a clear subject and verb.

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

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