Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-20

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)

A growing number of tourists prefer to visit places with extreme conditions like the Sahara desert or the Antartica. Although making trips to tough places can be interesting, they can bring unexpected challenges. This essay will shed light on its advantages and disadvantages.

To commence with, the main benefit of travelling to an extreme location is that it can boost confidence. To elaborate, since only a limited number of people chose to travel to difficult places, successfully completing a tour gives them a feeling of achievement and accomplishment. As a result, fostering their morale and confidence levels. For example, mountaineers dream to climb the Mount Everest where success rate is even less than 5%. Those who are able to achieve this milestone are highly respected and wear pride their whole life. Another benefit is that travelling to unique and tough places can reduce stress. In contemporary lifestyle, people get minimal time to enjoy and relax. Travelling to a destinations with difficult conditions can divert their mind from work and release their stress hormones.

On the other hand, despite the above-mentioned merits, there are some demerits. The primary one is that some people travel to challenging locations just to follow a trend. For example, many youths travel to extreme locations to make videos in order to gain public attention. Due to the lack of knowledge and risk involved, they sometimes pay a heavy price. For example, I read in today's newspaper that a group of college students were frozen while stuck on a peak after a heavy snowfall and sharp decline in temperature. They were rescued by the military later. Furthermore, they get disconnected from their family members for a time period. This means extreme places such as Antartica have limited to no cellular and internet connectivity. People travelling there depend on satellite phones for communication which is quite expensive to buy. Hence, they may experience complete cutoff with their families and relatives for sometime.

To conclude, this essay has discussed the advantages such as increase in confidence levels and reducing stress and anxiety whereas also highlighted that life threatening situations and complete isolation from their families are the plausible disadvantages.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses both the benefits and disadvantages of visiting extreme locations. The ideas are relevant and generally well-developed, such as the discussion on confidence-building and the risks associated with trend-chasing. However, some points could be more thoroughly explored; for instance, the argument about stress reduction is somewhat brief and could benefit from a more concrete example beyond the general mention of 'contemporary lifestyle'. Overall, the position is clear throughout, and the response covers all parts of the prompt effectively, meeting the requirements for a Band 7.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used effectively, such as 'To commence with', 'On the other hand', and 'Furthermore', which help guide the reader through the arguments. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas. While the flow is generally smooth, some transitions feel slightly mechanical. The referencing is clear, and the progression of ideas is logical, justifying a Band 7.0 score for this criterion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The vocabulary is sufficient and generally appropriate for the task. You demonstrate the ability to use topic-specific terms like 'extreme conditions', 'milestone', and 'isolation'. However, there are some minor inaccuracies and awkward phrasings, such as 'wear pride their whole life' (should be 'wear their pride') and 'divert their mind from work'. While you attempt to use less common vocabulary, the control is not consistently sophisticated enough for a higher band. The range is adequate to convey your meaning clearly without significant impediment.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'only a limited number of people chose to travel' (should be 'choose'), 'fostering their morale' (a sentence fragment), and 'Antartica' (spelling error). Additionally, 'success rate is even less than 5%' lacks an article. While these errors are noticeable, they do not impede communication. To reach a higher band, you should focus on reducing these small errors and increasing the variety of complex structures used with greater accuracy.

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

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