Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-16

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 there are many diffrent opinion about this topic visiting such place can be more fun but at the same time it maybe challenging for the tourists. Places like Antarctic and desert seems like beautiful places but it is dangerous. To add more, Antarctic is coverd in snow and the temprature there is cold. while in the deserts it feel like surrounding in super heat and no water near by.

There are servel benifits of this locations. Many people enjoy sahara desert as it has many activities to do such as, riding a moter cycle in sand or sliding on a desert. Furthermore, people can see beautifull sunset on this spot. Sahara desert is one of the most visited place in the world. Talking about Antarctic the temprature over here is always in minus but people enjoy going there to see creatures like Polar Bear, Peguins, Sea Lion this is a best site for people who loves to watch Bear catching a fish from water or watching a huge mountains coverd in solid snow or big icebergs. This will gives you knowledge about locations.

Talking about disadvantages of this sites are numrous, i rememberd last summer i visited sahara desert with my family at first i was very excited to see a big desert we also did lot of fun activity. Afterwards, i felt so thirsty and hungry i asked my tourist guide to give me some food but he said there is no food near by and if i wants to leave the desert it will take me 5 hours i was so frustreted. Furthermore, when i was watching discovery channel on TV i saw two people were dead because of temprature were to cold.

There is always a bad side and good side of the places.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the benefits and disadvantages of visiting extreme locations like the Sahara desert and the Antarctic. Your position is clear throughout, and relevant ideas are presented, such as activities in the desert and viewing wildlife in the Antarctic, alongside personal experiences. However, some ideas are under-developed or contain factual inaccuracies, such as mentioning polar bears in the Antarctic. To achieve a higher band score, you should ensure that your supporting examples are geographically accurate and fully elaborated without relying on over-generalised or inaccurate statements. Overall, you met the basic requirements of the task prompt reasonably well.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

There is a coherent overall arrangement to your essay, with clear paragraphs separating the introduction, benefits, disadvantages, and conclusion. You attempt to use cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore' and 'Afterward', but referencing and linking are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, sentences in the body paragraphs tend to run together without proper punctuation or conjunctions, as seen in 'Talking about Antarctic the temprature over here is always in minus but people enjoy going there...'. Paragraphing is used, but internal cohesion requires better control of punctuation and transitional phrases to guide the reader smoothly through your arguments and personal anecdotes.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

Your vocabulary range is adequate for the task, but spelling and word choice errors are frequent. There are multiple spelling mistakes throughout the text, such as 'diffrent', 'coverd', 'temprature', 'servel', 'benifits', 'moter', 'beautifull', 'Peguins', 'rememberd', and 'frustreted'. You attempt less common vocabulary items like 'challenging', 'frustrated', and 'numerous', but the persistent spelling and lexical inaccuracies occasionally impede smooth communication. To improve, you need to broaden your control of spelling and use more precise phrasing related to travel and environmental conditions.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but grammatical accuracy is weak. There are frequent errors in punctuation, run-on sentences, subject-verb agreement, and tense consistency. For instance, you write 'Sahara desert is one of the most visited place' instead of 'places', and shift tenses awkwardly in your personal anecdote ('when i was watching... i saw two people were dead because of temprature were to cold'). Many sentences lack proper punctuation boundaries, resulting in comma splices or fused sentences. While meaning is generally recoverable, the high frequency of grammatical slips places this response firmly in the Band 5 range.

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

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