Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-27

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 6.0)

Nowadays more and more people are visiting places where conditions are harsh to live, like Sahara desert or the Antarctic. Although this type of tourism has several benefits, it also has some sigmificant drawbacks, which will be discussed in upcoming paragraphs.

To begin with, one major benefit is that tourists can have unique and memorable experience. To explain it, visiting extreme destinations allow people to see unusual landscapes and learn about nature. Not only this, they can also know about the people's lifestyle living at such places, which they might not experience anywhere else. Another advantage is this kind of tourism can support local economy. People spend more money for the food, tour guides and accomodation, which can provide jobs to local drivers and guides. Therefore, going to places with difficult conditions add up in their knowledge and appreciate the nature.

However, the are also some drawbacks. The main concern is tourist's health and safety. To elucidate it, extreme temperatures, limited medical facilities can make these journies dangerous . For example, people visiting Sahara desert may suffer from dehydartion, while people going to Antarctic may experience extreme cold, which is sometimes hard to handle. Furthermore, increased tourism to such places can damage environment by producing waste and disturbing wildlife. As a result, this will be disturb the nature and can lead to natural disasters.

In conclusion, visiting difficult destinations offers many benefits such as memorable experience and gain in knowledge, but it can also create safety risks and environmental problems, which should not be ignored. Proper management is therefore essential to reduce these problems.

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 destinations. The position is clear throughout the essay. The student puts forward relevant ideas, such as unique experiences and economic support for the local community as benefits, while identifying health and safety concerns and environmental damage as drawbacks. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed and would benefit from deeper elaboration or more specific examples beyond general statements. For instance, the point regarding local economic support is introduced but not fully expanded upon. Overall, the content is appropriate and covers the prompt adequately, aligning best with a Band 6.5 or solid Band 6 descriptor set.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from introduction to body paragraphs and a concluding summary. Paragraphing is used appropriately, with each main idea grouped into its own distinct section. Cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'Another advantage is', and 'However' are employed to guide the reader through the text, though some referencing and transitional phrases feel a bit mechanical or repetitive, such as the frequent use of 'To explain it' and 'To elucidate it'. Nevertheless, the overarching structure remains easy to follow, supporting a Band 6.5 descriptor classification nicely.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully incorporating terms like 'harsh', 'unique and memorable experience', 'dehydration', and 'proper management'. There are some spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'sigmificant' instead of 'significant', 'accomodation' instead of 'accommodation', and phrasing like 'add up in their knowledge' which is unnatural. Furthermore, some repetitive vocabulary occurs across paragraphs. However, these lexical slips do not impede communication, and the writer makes acceptable attempts at less common lexical items, fitting the Band 6 descriptor well.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional or relative clauses like 'people who visit such places' and 'which they might not experience anywhere else'. There are several grammatical errors present, such as article omissions ('visiting Sahara desert', 'disturb environment'), subject-verb agreement issues ('the are also some drawbacks'), and awkward prepositions ('money for the food'). Despite these errors, the structures used do not severely impede communication, and many sentences remain grammatically sound, placing this performance comfortably within the Band 6 range.

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