Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-18
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, people have tendency to explore places like Sahara desert or the Antarctic, which are difficult to survive because of its geographical conditions.There are certain advantages like, people gets new advanture and techniques to survive and this activity also leads disadvantages such as this visit sometime meet up with lost and other health problems.
To commence with, in this era people have interest to visit a remote locations such as Sahara desert or the Antarctic because they have to see their survival skills. Many tourist schedule this type of tour because they want to show other people that they are able to survive even in difficult conditions.For instance, Bear Graylls, who is most famous person on this earth because of his survival techniques and skills in particularly the locations where conditions and weather are very tuff and challanging.
Furthermore, many people want to explore places which are different from other places, where they find less populations and enjoy real nature such as forest of Amazon,Desert of Sahara and the Antarctic where they feel the nature of mother earth. In addition people also want show that they are tough and strong able to survive in this places to their relatives and communities.
However, visiting this geographical locations sometime occurs risks.Many people lost in this places and hard to find because of difficult conditions and sometime they lose their precious life as well.Moreover, some people survive happily, while others may faces extreme health conditions in their life because of tragic weather conditions.
In conclusion, many people visit locations which are difficult to survive, where they get new advanture and skills whereas, its also has disadvantages to some people where they faces serious health related issues.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
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 environments such as the Sahara desert and the Antarctic. The writer presents clear ideas, mentioning advantages like seeking new adventures, testing survival skills, and enjoying untouched nature, alongside disadvantages such as getting lost, facing severe health conditions, and fatal risks. However, some ideas are repetitive, particularly the notion of proving toughness to others, which appears multiple times without significant extension. Examples are provided, such as mentioning Bear Grylls and specific locations like the Amazon and Sahara. This performance aligns with Band 6, where all parts are addressed, but some ideas are slightly under-developed or repetitive.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt at paragraphing, featuring an introduction, body paragraphs addressing benefits and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Transitional markers such as 'To commence with', 'Furthermore', 'However', and 'In conclusion' are used to guide the reader through the text. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical and referencing is occasionally faulty, as seen in phrases like 'in this places' and 'this geographical locations'. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion within paragraphs could be smoother to avoid choppy sentence structures. Overall, the organizational structure meets the criteria for Band 6.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'geographical conditions', 'survival skills', and 'extreme health conditions'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies throughout the text, such as 'people gets new advanture', 'this visit sometime meet up with lost', and 'tragic weather conditions' instead of harsh weather. Spelling and morphological errors are also present, including 'advanture' and 'tuff'. Because the vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the main ideas despite these limitations, a score of 5.5 is appropriate.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, though complex structures are frequently marred by grammatical errors. Examples of structural and agreement errors include 'people have tendency', 'because of its geographical conditions' (where 'its' lacks a clear singular antecedent), 'many people lost in this places and hard to find', and 'others may faces'. Punctuation and article use are also inconsistent. While these errors do not completely impede communication, their frequency prevents the essay from reaching higher band levels. This demonstrates the characteristics of Band 5.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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