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)

Isolation is really badly effecting people's life and pushes them into depression, anxiety, drugs and so on. However, awareness is also increasing day by day about how important is to look after and to take care of mental health. Also, it can be seen these days a lot of tourists are visiting to those places which are on difficult geographical location and their conditions are also not that safe like the Sahara desert or the Antarctic.

On the one hand, a person can not only improve their mental health, but also their physical fitness via going to these places where conditions are difficult. To elaborate this, for example, a human being is just living inside for walls all the time and sitting in front of screen and eating all day and repeating same thing everyday. As a result, they will be depressed, isolated, suffer from many diseases and will be dead soon, where as if they go outside travel in varied places with ice, desert, mountains, hills, by being close to nature they will heal themselves and become strong in everything.

On the other hand, the major disadvantage of going and visiting these places is a risk of losing yourself or life risk, disconnected from close ones. For example, a person living in plain area all of his/her life and sometimes they are unable to get adjust with extreme steep, hilly, or other areas, due to extreme weather conditions.

In conclusion, visiting these places has both pros and cons.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both the benefits and disadvantages of visiting extreme locations. However, the development of ideas is limited. The introduction is somewhat tangential, focusing on mental health in general rather than the specific prompt about tourism. The body paragraphs provide some relevant points, such as physical fitness and the risk of injury, but these are not fully extended or supported with specific, concrete examples. Furthermore, the response falls just short of the 250-word minimum, which impacts the overall development of the argument. To improve, you should ensure each paragraph focuses directly on the prompt and provides more detailed, logical explanations for your claims.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. You use basic cohesive devices like 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand' to signal shifts in the argument. However, the progression of ideas is sometimes disjointed. For instance, the transition from the introduction to the first body paragraph is abrupt. Additionally, some referencing is unclear, such as 'those places which are on difficult geographical location'. Improving the use of linking words and ensuring that each sentence flows logically from the previous one will help achieve a higher band score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and range required for higher bands. You rely on repetitive phrasing, such as 'difficult' and 'conditions'. There are also some awkward collocations, such as 'life risk' instead of 'life-threatening risks' or 'get adjust' instead of 'acclimatise'. While the meaning is generally clear, the lack of variety and occasional inaccuracies in word choice limit the score. To improve, try to incorporate more topic-specific vocabulary related to travel, environment, and psychology, and focus on using words in their correct collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the flow. Examples include 'badly effecting' (should be 'affecting'), 'how important is to look after' (should be 'how important it is'), and 'a human being is just living inside for walls' (should be 'four walls'). There are also issues with article usage and subject-verb agreement. While the meaning is usually understandable, the frequency of these errors prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. Focus on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and word order.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.