Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-24
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 6.0)
Nowadays, it is trending among travelers to visit the barren landscapes which are located far from metro cities with little or no aid from technologies rather than visiting the popular tourist destinations such as the 'Taj Mahal'. There are many pros and cons of this development which I will be discussing in upcoming paragraphs with relevant examples.
To begin with merits, visiting abandon places can make you strong and helps in developing sense of accepting or adjusting. To elaborate, if an individual visit a place with the challenging situations he/she will be able to develop survieveing skills rather than demanding for comfort when it comes to food or a place to stay. To illustrate, I visited Sahara desert last year and developed skills like, filteration of sea water and making a bed from coconut tree using it's leaves and a stem. In addition, facing harsh conditions will teach people to value what they have in their life. When you visit place with a food scarcity you will never waste food when you visit any fine-dine restaurant in future.
On the other hand, this trend have serious impacts on health if an individual is not mentally as well as physically fit to overcome the natural challenges. In other words, it is not easy to survive at spots like the Antarctic due to unpredictable weather conditions which can lead to deadly diseases. For example, Frost bite, Nausea and the 'Cold Cancer' . Finally, one could expect face off with wild animals as they are entering their natural habitate.
To conclude, although given trend can be proven really beneficial in terms of teaching a valuable life lesson and the survival skills, one should take risk if they are ready enough to overcome hard challenges.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 6.0 |
| Overall | 6.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0
The response addresses both the benefits and disadvantages of visiting extreme locations. The ideas are relevant, such as developing survival skills and the risks of physical harm. However, some points are under-developed or contain factual inconsistencies; for instance, the claim about filtering seawater in the Sahara is geographically illogical, and the mention of 'Cold Cancer' is not a recognized medical term. While the position is clear, the development of ideas could be more nuanced and grounded in realistic scenarios to reach a higher band.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5
The essay is organized into logical paragraphs with a clear introduction and conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To begin with', 'On the other hand', and 'To conclude', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing and flow, such as the abrupt transition between the benefits and the risks. The paragraphing is appropriate, and the overall progression of ideas is easy to follow.
Lexical Resource — Band 6.0
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, though there are instances of imprecise word choice and collocation errors. Phrases like 'abandon places' (should be 'abandoned'), 'metro cities', and 'demanding for comfort' indicate a limited range of natural collocations. While the student attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'unpredictable weather conditions' and 'natural habitate' (should be 'habitat'), there are spelling errors and word-form inaccuracies that occasionally distract the reader.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0
The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement ('this trend have', 'individual visit'), article usage ('the Sahara desert'), and incorrect word forms ('survieveing'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with the use of quotation marks and commas. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the message, they occur frequently enough to limit the score to the 6.0 band.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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