Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-03

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)

I personally belive that whether a person choose to visit difficult place as Sahara desert or the easiest place as Maldives totally depends on the individuals way of relaxing. Some indviduals may feel relaxed in difficult conditions with a thrill to survive and some may find relaxation in peaceful places.

One of the key benefit and advantage of visiting such places that I can think of is, sense of achivement or accomplishment. By facing difficult situations and being in survive mode thorugh out your journey you may feel content and accomplished at the end of the trip. This may also boost your confidence level when you go back your orndinary life and help you look at the world in a different lense.

There is a saying that difficult paths lead to beautiful places and I firmly belive in that. I had recently visited the last village of India which is located deep in the mountain and you basically have to walk atleast 5 km for a shop or a market place. I jsut realised that, while we can order anything through internet within a minute, there are people out there who plans 100 times just to buy a milk. This was just one of the experience through which I realized that not evryones life is same. Some may call their order not getting deliverd on time as a difficlut situation and for some walking 5 KM to get a bandage may be an actual difficult situation.

The only disadvantage of such tourist place is that it may affect your health if you are not well prepared tor possibilty of an accident. Other than that I dont think there is really any disadvantage of vising such places.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt only partially, placing it at this level. You do state a position and mention a few benefits, such as a sense of achievement and a shift in perspective, and one disadvantage regarding health preparation. However, these ideas remain limited and under-developed. For example, when discussing the benefit of accomplishment, you mention that it helps you look at the world through a different lens, but you do not elaborate on how this specifically impacts a tourist's mindset or long-term well-being. Similarly, the disadvantages are brushed aside rather quickly without a deeper exploration of environmental impacts or physical dangers. To reach a higher band, you need to extend your ideas fully with detailed explanations and well-supported examples rather than generalized statements.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some basic organization in your essay, with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion, which gives it a coherent overall arrangement. However, there is no clear overall progression as the logical flow between sentences and paragraphs is occasionally disrupted. For instance, transitioning from the theoretical benefits of extreme travel into your personal anecdote about the last village of India feels slightly abrupt. Furthermore, cohesive devices are sometimes inadequate or repetitive; you tend to rely on simple connectors like 'and' or 'this' without a wider variety of linking phrases to guide the reader smoothly. Paragraphing is used, but the internal structure of the paragraphs needs better logical linking to ensure seamless progression of your thoughts.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is minimally adequate for the task, but it features noticeable errors that sometimes cause difficulty for the reader. You attempt some less common vocabulary, such as 'accomplishment' and 'perspective', but there are frequent spelling errors—such as 'belive', 'indviduals', 'achivement', 'thorugh', 'orndinary', 'lense', 'evryones', 'deliverd', 'difficlut', and 'tor'—along with word choice issues like 'survive mode' instead of 'survival mode'. These lexical slips and spelling inaccuracies indicate a limited control over word forms and spelling. To improve, you should focus on expanding your range of vocabulary, mastering correct spellings of common words, and using precise collocations suitable for an academic or general writing task.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You demonstrate a limited range of sentence structures, relying heavily on simple sentences and basic complex forms. When you attempt more complex structures, they are often faulty, featuring frequent errors in grammar, articles, prepositions, and plurals. Examples include missing articles ('visit difficult place'), incorrect prepositions ('in survive mode', 'go back your orndinary life'), and subject-verb agreement issues ('whether a person choose'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma splices and missing apostrophes (e.g., 'dont', 'everyone's'). These frequent errors can cause some difficulty for the reader. To achieve a higher band, you should aim to use a wider variety of complex structures with greater accuracy, ensuring that verb forms, articles, and prepositions are carefully checked.

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

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