Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-21

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)

There is a growing trend among visitors to choose remote locations with harsh conditions for their trips. These places can provide a chance to do adventurous activities and also create employment opportunities in nearby areas. However, Because of difficult situations, these places can be risky and expensive.

Both tourists and locals can be benefited by an increased number of visitors at places with severe conditions. Firstly, increased tourism helps to develop the location and create more number of jobs. Since these places have environment conditions which are not suitable for large businesses, more number of visitors will result in more number of hotels, tourist agencies, and local businesses. Another benefit is that it will help tourists do to adventurous activities and get a sense of achievement by doing things that not a lot of people are doing in their friend circles. For instance, because of its hot weather, a very few number of people visit the Sahara desert, visiting such places will give them social validation.

However, there are obvious drawbacks of visiting such places. One obvious disadvantage is a life threat. Places where conditions are difficult require following heavy safety protocols, failing to do so can result in life threating accident. For example, before visiting the Antarctic, I had to go through a 2 days intense safety and rescue training programme. Moreover, because of severe weather conditions, it is hard for businesses to operate in these areas, which results in more expensive trips compared to ordinary tourist locations.

To conclude, while increasing tourists at places with difficult environment conditions can be helpful to grow local economies, it can be expensive and life threating for visitors.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The student addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the benefits and disadvantages of visiting extreme locations like the Sahara desert or the Antarctic. A clear position is maintained throughout the response. Ideas are extended and supported with relevant examples, such as the mention of an intense safety and rescue training programme before visiting the Antarctic, and the economic boost for local businesses through tourism. Although some points like social validation could be further elaborated, the task response is fully satisfactory and covers the main requirements well.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organised with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing benefits and disadvantages separately, and a concluding summary. Cohesive devices are used adequately, such as 'Firstly', 'Another benefit', 'However', and 'Moreover', providing a clear logical progression throughout the text. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, separating each main idea into its own distinct section. Reference words are generally clear, though minor improvements in transitional phrasing could make the flow even smoother.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate and functional range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'remote locations', 'harsh conditions', 'social validation', and 'safety protocols'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation inaccuracies, such as 'create more number of jobs' instead of 'create a greater number of jobs', 'environment conditions' instead of 'environmental conditions', and 'life threating accident' instead of 'life-threatening accident'. Despite these minor lexical errors, communication is never impeded.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating a willingness to use subordinate clauses and conditional constructions. However, there are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings throughout the text, including 'tourists do to adventurous activities', 'increasing tourists' instead of 'increasing the number of tourists', and missing hyphens in compound adjectives like 'life-threatening'. While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the essay from reaching a higher band for grammatical accuracy.

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

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