Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-13
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)
Nowadays the number of people visiting the daring places like Antarctic and Sahara desert are increasing. I would discuss both advantages and disadvantages in this essay.
One the one hand, Everyone wants to experience new things in their life.A person born in a warm Country wants to experience snow and a person born in a cold Country wants to see what it feels to live in a hot weather.Furthermore, tourism is getting promoted.Travel and tourism industries are providing thousands of jobs all around the world.
On the other hand, people endanger their and their families lives while visiting hardcore places like the Himalyas. Tourists have no surviving experience at these places.Some of the places were not meant to be visited but people are going against the nature by keep going there. People are distroying these places by spreading trash everywhere . For example 5 tons of garbage were collected from the sahara desert last year.
In conclusion, visiting such places like Sahara desert and Antarctic gives people new experience,gives them a feeling of achivement. But it is also putting peeople's lives at risks and they are interfaring with the nature by leaving their rubbish behind.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the benefits and disadvantages of visiting extreme locations like the Antarctic and Sahara desert. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and the text suffers from a significant length penalty, containing only 195 words compared to the required 250-word minimum. While the writer mentions personal experiences and tourism growth as benefits, and environmental destruction and physical danger as disadvantages, these points remain underdeveloped. For instance, the example regarding 5 tons of garbage in the Sahara is relevant but unsupported by further elaboration. Because the minimum word count requirement is not met, the score is capped in accordance with the Task Achievement band descriptors.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay displays a basic logical structure with clear paragraphing, dividing the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion adequately. Cohesive devices are utilized, such as 'One the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion', which help signal the transition between different points. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes mechanical or abrupt. For example, the transition from discussing tourism jobs to environmental dangers in the second and third paragraphs lacks smooth connection. Additionally, paragraphing could be better managed, as the body paragraphs group multiple disparate ideas together rather than focusing on a single, well-developed theme per paragraph.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to convey basic ideas about tourism and environmental impact, but it lacks sophistication and precision. There are several noticeable word choice and spelling errors, such as 'daring places' instead of extreme or remote places, 'distroying' instead of destroying, and 'interfaring' instead of interfering. Phrases like 'hardcore places' are too informal for an IELTS essay. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary items like 'achievement' and 'employment', but the lexical range remains limited and occasional errors cause slight strain for the reader.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, such as conditional or relative-style thoughts ('A person born in a warm Country wants to experience snow...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including capitalization issues ('Country', 'Himalyas'), article misuse ('the Antarctic and Sahara desert'), and subject-verb agreement errors ('the number of people... are increasing'). Punctuation errors are also present, such as missing spaces after periods (e.g., 'life.A person'). Despite these errors, communication is generally not impeded, and the reader can follow the intended meaning.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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