Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-01

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)

Places like the Sahara desert or the Antarctic are more assessible nowadays due to the high demand of tourists visiting these places. These places are not risk free and I believe that all depends upon their personal feelings where some like to be of adventurous type while some are more cautious.

There are several benefits that tourists who visit such places could highlight. Firstly, the sensation that they feel when experencing such view for the first time is unrelatable. They can only capture these moments thanks to the advance in technology by their smartphone.

Secondly, tourists like to go to places which they have not seen in their country and consequently, they can take pictures or videos to show and narrate to their family and friends of their adventure.

However, there are also some disadvantages for tourist that are not foreseeable. For instance, going to these places are sometimes dangerous. Any mishap could happen for instance, an accident or losing one's life and this could mark your entire life.

I personnaly recall of an accident that happened with a newly married couple from india who went to Casela and were doing the zip line and unfortunately the rope broke and the lady was injured badly that she has been paralyzed.

To conclude, I believe that all depends on the tourists willingness to experience this type of emotion and risk associated with.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

Importantly, the Length Check reports that the response falls short of the required 250-word minimum, containing only 231 words. Regarding the content, the response addresses the prompt by discussing both benefits and disadvantages of visiting extreme locations like the Sahara or Antarctica. However, the task is only partially addressed because the ideas remain limited and under-developed. For instance, the discussion on benefits mentions feelings and capturing moments with a smartphone, but these points are superficial and lack expansion or specific examples. The disadvantage section relies on a single personal anecdote about a zip-line accident in Casela rather than exploring broader, more relevant environmental or logistical challenges associated with remote wilderness tourism. Consequently, the position is not always clearly maintained throughout, resulting in a restricted treatment of the topic.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates some overall organization, using basic paragraphing to separate the introduction, body points, and conclusion. However, there is a lack of clear progression throughout the text. Cohesive devices are sometimes inaccurate, repetitive, or mechanically applied, as seen with the sequential markers 'Firstly,' 'Secondly,' and 'However,' which do not always logically bridge the underlying ideas. Referencing is occasionally unclear, particularly with pronouns like 'they' and 'these places,' which sometimes create ambiguity regarding whether the writer is referring to the tourists or the destinations. While paragraphs are present, the internal flow within paragraphs is disjointed, preventing the essay from achieving a fully logical progression of thoughts.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate for the task. The writer attempts some less common lexical items, such as 'assessible' (spelling error for accessible), 'experencing,' and 'unrelatable,' but these attempts feature noticeable errors in word form, spelling, and word choice that cause some difficulty for the reader. Expressions like 'mark your entire life' or 'injured badly' demonstrate a basic vocabulary range with awkward collocations. Although the meaning can generally be deciphered, frequent spelling and lexical slips restrict the precision and flexibility of the writing, keeping it capped at this level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer utilizes a limited range of sentence structures, relying heavily on simple forms alongside occasional complex attempts that are frequently faulty. There are several grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('conditions are difficult... what are the benefits'), prepositional errors ('experience with a newly married couple'), and awkward phrasing like 'all depends upon their personal feelings where some like to be of adventurous type.' Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with capitalization in proper nouns such as 'india.' These frequent errors require some effort from the reader to parse the intended meaning, reflecting a restricted control over grammatical structures.

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