Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-01

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)

It is observed that majority of people visits places with extreme weather conditions such as temperatures as freezing ice or scorching heat. From my perspective, it is crucial to visits such places as it boost the economy of such regions. However, it may affect the health of the tourist due to harsh conditions.

Firstly, economical boost will help the natives living there. For example, tourists visiting such places will require accommodation, food and souvenirs. Thus, it will improve the business opportunity for the people residing there. Moreover, it will help in the contribution to the taxes which will enhance the local development of the area.

Moreover, visiting these places such as the Sahara desert or the Antarctic will give historical and archeological recognition of the area. For instance, with the rising tourist population, it will spread culture and craft of the location. Hence, it will give recognition to the places which once were undiscovered.

On the contrary, the harsh weather conditions can affect the health of tourists. For example, people from middle east countries are not often used to cold weather, thus visiting places with extreme cold can badly affect their health and may cause serious diseases such as frost bite, severe fever and many more.

At last, risk of accidents can be prone such as unfamiliar situation can often bring uninvited threats or accidents. For instance, travelling without knowing the road conditions can compromise the lives of tourists and even threats from local wildlife can be dangerous.

To sum up, it is crucial to visit such places for historical purposes and economical boost. Therefore, it should not ignore the problems it might bring such as severe health issues and accidents due to undiscovered roads or wildlife.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have addressed both parts of the prompt by discussing the benefits (economic growth, cultural recognition) and disadvantages (health risks, safety concerns) of extreme tourism. Your position is clear throughout the essay. However, the development of your ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the point about 'historical and archeological recognition' is not fully explained; it is unclear how visiting a desert leads to such recognition. To improve, ensure that each supporting example directly links back to the main point and provides a deeper explanation. Overall, you have covered the requirements of the task adequately, but more depth in your arguments would lead to a higher band score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You use transition signals such as 'Firstly', 'Moreover', 'On the contrary', and 'To sum up' to guide the reader. However, some of these cohesive devices are used in a slightly mechanical or repetitive way. Additionally, there are instances where the flow between sentences could be smoother; for example, the transition between the economic benefits and the cultural benefits in the second and third paragraphs feels a bit abrupt. Paragraphing is used appropriately, which helps the overall structure of the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'scorching heat', 'archaeological recognition', and 'compromise the lives'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'economical boost' (should be 'economic boost') and 'risk of accidents can be prone' (which is grammatically awkward). You also repeat certain words, such as 'places' and 'conditions', throughout the essay. To reach a higher band, try to incorporate more precise synonyms and demonstrate a better grasp of collocations to convey your ideas with more sophistication and fewer errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally distract the reader. For example, 'majority of people visits' should be 'the majority of people visit', and 'it should not ignore' should be 'one should not ignore' or 'the problems should not be ignored'. There are also issues with subject-verb agreement and article usage throughout the text. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and pluralization would significantly improve your accuracy.

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

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