Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

Nowadays, travelers are visiting the sites where circustances are hard, including Sahara desert or the Antarctic. This essay will discuss both advantages and disadvantages for visitors who are visiting such places.

On the one hand, visiting difficult destinations can provide memorable and unusual experience. Travelling to remote areas can allow people to see spectacular landscapes and wildlife. For instance, visitors to Antarctica can observe penguins, glaciers, and other wildlife. Such experiences can also increase people's appreciation to nature and encourage them to protect the environment. Another advantage is that travelling to challenging locations can improve people's confidence and resilience. Tourists may have to cope with extreme temperatures, long journey, and limited facilities. Successfully dealing with these difficulties can make person more independent and give them a sense of achievement. In addition, tourist provides employment and income to local guides, transport providers, and other businesses in remote areas.

On the other hand, there are also significant disadvantages. The most important one is the potential danger to tourists. Extreme heat in deserts and freezing in Antarctica can cause a serious health issues, if not properly prepared. To explain it, remote locations often have limited medical facilities, medical assistance might take amount of time. This makes even a minor accidents potentially dangerous. Another concern is the environmental impact of tourism. Large amount of visitors can disturb the wildlife, create waste, and damage to ecosystem. For example, Antarctica has a sensitive environment, so increased human activities needs to be controlled.

In conclusion, visiting places with difficult conditions can offer tourists unique experience, and personal challenges. Nevertheless, the health risks, and environment damage should be carefully managed and undertaken with proper preparation.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the benefits and disadvantages of tourism in difficult environments like the Sahara or Antarctica. The position is clear throughout the essay. Ideas are extended and supported with relevant examples, such as observing wildlife in Antarctica and the health risks associated with extreme temperatures. While some of the supporting ideas could be developed even further, the main points are adequately covered and the prompt is fully answered. The student successfully identifies advantages like personal growth and local employment, alongside disadvantages such as safety hazards and environmental degradation, satisfying the requirements for Band 7.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay presents a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. The response is divided into logical paragraphs, with a clear introduction, separate body paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a concise conclusion. Cohesive devices are used effectively to connect ideas, as seen with transition phrases such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'For instance'. However, referencing and paragraph internal cohesion occasionally feel a bit mechanical or repetitive, such as the frequent repetition of 'visiting such places' or 'remote areas'. Nevertheless, the overarching structure and flow remain clear and coherent, comfortably aligning with Band 7 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow some flexibility and precision, using terms like 'spectacular landscapes', 'resilience', 'sensitive environment', and 'degradation'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'sites where circustances are hard' instead of 'harsh conditions', 'appreciation to nature' instead of 'appreciation of nature', and 'large amount of visitors' instead of 'large numbers of visitors'. Spelling errors also occur, such as 'circustances' and 'accidents' (used in the singular 'a minor accidents'). These minor lexical slips and occasional inaccuracies limit the score to Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating control over relative clauses ('businesses in remote areas') and conditional structures ('if not properly prepared'). However, there are several grammatical errors scattered throughout the text, including article omissions and pluralisation issues ('can cause a serious health issues', 'take amount of time', 'human activities needs to be controlled', 'environment damage'). While these errors do not impede communication, they persist frequently enough to prevent the essay from reaching a Band 7. The majority of simpler sentences are accurate, and punctuation is generally correct, placing the performance firmly in Band 6.

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