Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-26

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)

People are exploring places like Sahara desert or the Antarctic, which is kind of difficult places to survive ourselves. There are some advantages and disadvantages of visiting such places. This essay will discuss all the relevant events related to this topic and give good examples.

To begin with, the first benefit of going Sahara desert or the Antartic is, people are getting prepared themselves to cop with bad situations may occure around them. For example, in severe hotness like sahara desert, they probably prapare their food for next few days which gives them instant cooling. It is required to eat good food in hot condition. This event give them a good experience to deal with their life. They will definately boost their confidence in their real life because they have already faced difficult situation and survived it.

On the other hand, there is a disadvantage of visiting such places. In severe cold weather or hot weather, if we fail to survive this may cause regreat of our life. For instance, the Antarctic place is extreme cold and our blood circulation may get slowed down. Because of that we can be suffored from issues like heart attack. To prevent that we need to be properly take some good medicines or food.

To conclude, I believe of going places like Sahara desert or the Antarctic is more advantageous than disadvantage. It gives you life lessons and power of handling such difficult situations. Although there are few difficulties but one can definately visit such places like this.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses both the benefits and disadvantages of visiting extreme places like the Sahara desert or the Antarctic. The writer presents a clear position throughout, concluding that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For instance, the discussion on benefits focuses heavily on building confidence and dealing with bad situations, but the supporting examples, such as preparing food in hot weather to get instant cooling, are vague and lack real-world accuracy or depth. Similarly, the disadvantages touch on health risks like heart attacks due to blood circulation issues in extreme cold, but these points remain under-developed. To reach a higher band, the writer needs to provide more fully elaborated arguments with precise and logical examples that directly address the complexities of extreme tourism.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement and follows a clear paragraph structure with an introduction, body paragraphs addressing benefits and disadvantages respectively, and a conclusion. Transitional markers such as 'To begin with', 'On the other hand', and 'To conclude' are used to guide the reader through the text. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, sentences like 'This event give them a good experience' and 'I believe of going places like Sahara desert or the Antarctic is more advantageous than disadvantage' create awkward transitions and unclear pronoun referencing. Paragraphing is present and appropriate, but the internal logical flow between sentences occasionally stumbles due to awkward phrasing and repetitive sentence structures.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, but it frequently lacks precision and natural collocation. The student attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'survival', 'severe hotness', and 'blood circulation', but makes notable errors in word choice and form, including 'cop' instead of 'cope', 'occure' instead of 'occur', 'prapare' instead of 'prepare', and 'suffored' instead of 'suffer'. Furthermore, phrasing like 'severe hotness' instead of 'extreme heat' or 'scorching temperatures' demonstrates limited lexical flexibility. While communication is not severely impeded and the meaning remains clear, the presence of frequent word-form errors and basic vocabulary choices limits the score for this criterion to a solid band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over basic structures. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent throughout the essay. There are frequent errors in verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions, such as 'people are getting prepared themselves to cop with bad situations may occure around them' (missing relative pronoun, incorrect reflexive pronoun usage, and tense issues) and 'I believe of going places' (incorrect preposition). Additionally, phrases like 'in severe hotness like sahara desert' lack proper capitalization and article usage. While the reader can generally follow the intended meaning, the accumulation of grammatical errors across most sentences prevents the essay from achieving a higher band score.

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

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