Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-20

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)

Nowadays, many tourists want to visit places where conditions are harsh, such as the Sahara desert or the Antarctic.This is mainly because individuals find it like an attractive places for visiting to explore different culture, cuisines and locations.The essay will discuss the advantages and drawbacks for visiting such places.

To begin with, the benefits for tourists who visit such places is to explore the different culture, their local food and diverse nature.This means that, people want to visit places with different weather conditions because it helps them to explore about the country. For example, people from different countries love to explore the places where conditions are difficult for enjoyment and find it thrilling. Consequently, it leads tourist to find out about people lives in these places. Moreover, local people gets job because of tourist attractions which helps them to earn money for their families.

However, there are several drawbacks for tourist if they visit places such as the Sahara desert or the Antarctic. Firstly, there are limited health facilities. If anyone wants medical care for emergency, it is difficult to find nearby. Secondly, tourist can harm the places by throwing waste because plastic would not decompose easily. For instance, Places like the Sahara desert do not have enough hospitals for treatments. As a result, it would be dangerous for individuals to visit such place for entertainment.

To conclude, I firmly believe that the government have to open hospitals and give proper treatments for tourist. Although there are benefits for local when tourist could come for enjoying, the drawbacks leads to destroy the places.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address both benefits and disadvantages, and your position is broadly clear: tourism can bring income to local families, while remote locations may lack medical care and suffer from waste. However, the ideas are only partly developed. The cultural benefit is repeated in several forms, while the disadvantages would be stronger with explanation of specific risks, such as extreme temperatures, isolation or the difficulty of rescue. The conclusion introduces government hospitals but does not fully resolve the balance of benefits and drawbacks. The response is also two words below the required minimum; the 16 words copied from the task prompt are excluded from the count. Develop each main point with a clearer explanation or relevant example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: an introduction, a paragraph on benefits, one on drawbacks and a conclusion. Signposting such as “To begin with,” “However,” and “To conclude” helps readers follow the main stages. Within paragraphs, however, progression is sometimes mechanical, with “This means,” “For example,” and “Consequently” linking ideas that are not always clearly connected. For instance, the claim that visitors explore a country is followed by enjoyment and then local employment, without explaining the relationship between these points. Some references are also unclear, such as “these places” and “the places.” Group related ideas more tightly and use linking phrases only when they show a precise relationship.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic vocabulary to communicate the main points, including “harsh,” “diverse nature,” “medical care,” and “decompose.” There are also attempts at more specific language, such as “health facilities” and “tourist attractions.” However, the range is limited by repeated use of “places,” “tourist,” and “different,” and several word combinations or forms are inaccurate, including “attractive places for visiting,” “explore about the country,” and “tourist attractions” where you mean tourism. These choices sometimes make the intended meaning less natural, though the overall message remains understandable. Aim for more precise terms for remote environments and tourism impacts, and check that words combine naturally in phrases.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including conditional forms such as “If anyone wants medical care for emergency, it is difficult to find nearby” and a contrast introduced by “Although.” However, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently enough to affect clarity. Subject–verb agreement is inconsistent in “the benefits … is” and “local people gets”; articles and plurals are also problematic in “an attractive places” and “such place.” The opening has a missing space after “Antarctic,” and punctuation around sentence boundaries is inconsistent. Practise checking agreement, singular and plural forms, and sentence boundaries, then build more accurate complex sentences to explain cause and effect.

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