Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-23
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)
These days number of tourist are visiting the places where climatic conditions are not suitable for human beings. However, there are both adavntages and disadvantages of visting such type of place exploring new places, learning survival techniques and risk to health and life, polluting the environment. This essay will discuss the both side.
Exploring new places has some benefits of it, the visitior get to know more about the places where people rarely visit. For instance channels like Discovery and National Geographic often telecast shows of people visting there and always getting something new. These type of places give a chance to human being to survive a harsh weather situation, even the daily routine become a task when a person live there.
On the other side, the risk of life or health increases as such type of places are filled with unexpected danger such as animals or harmful food. Not everyone is aware of places like Sahara or Antarctic what to do in a particular type of situation. To exemplify, a person got stuck in a cave and died while exploring the cave because there was no chance to rescue him from there. The another disadvantage is people often take packed food item with themselves and they left those plastic bags there which ultimately pollute the environment.
In conclusion, visiting new places especiallly with the harsh weather condition has their own benefits and drawbacks. The visitor got to know about the survival tacts but at the cost of their life.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses both the benefits and disadvantages of visiting extreme environments. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention survival techniques and personal growth as benefits, and health risks and pollution as drawbacks, the arguments lack depth and specific, well-explained examples. For instance, the example of a person dying in a cave is a bit generic and does not fully illustrate the broader 'disadvantages' of tourism in such regions. To improve, ensure that each point is fully extended with clear reasoning and more detailed, relevant illustrations to meet the requirements of higher band descriptors.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the progression of ideas. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'On the other side' and 'In conclusion' to signal shifts in the argument. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and the use of cohesive devices is limited. Some transitions are slightly awkward, such as the opening paragraph's list-like structure. To improve, try to use a wider variety of linking words and ensure that the relationship between sentences is more fluid and less repetitive.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, but it lacks the range and precision required for a higher score. You rely on simple phrasing, such as 'new places' and 'harsh weather situation'. There are also some minor errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'survival tacts' instead of 'survival tactics' or 'survival skills'. To reach a higher band, you should aim to incorporate more sophisticated vocabulary related to the topic, such as 'extreme environments', 'ecological footprint', or 'unforeseen hazards', and ensure that words are used in their correct context.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with articles ('the places', 'a person'), subject-verb agreement ('number of tourist are'), and pluralization ('both side'). Some sentences are also slightly fragmented or run-on, which affects the overall clarity. While the meaning is generally clear, these persistent errors indicate a need for more careful proofreading and a focus on mastering basic sentence construction and grammatical accuracy before attempting more complex structures.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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