Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-11-05

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)

Since challenging tourism places has become a repatitive practice to overcome an individual's fear. Most of the visitors prefer going to hard conditions rather than travelling to normal tourists attractions. There are relative benefits and drawbacks to the tourists.

To begin with the positives of this, the most prominent one is that some of the tourist's brain can release natural dopamin by doing such risky activities. On the other hand, a few individuals use supplements such as alchohal, meth and other drugs to get the same feeling. As a result, Consuming drugs could lead to the death of an individual, hence a natural feeling is considerably better than taking a drug.

Another advantage of this could be independency. It have seen so many times that natural disasters usually creat tough situations for people to survive. If someone has already faced a similar kind of situation during a tourism, they could feel more independent and could face the situation more efficiently than others.

However, there are a few disadvantgaes of this. Firstly, visiting risky places can be dangerous for their physical health. Physically, they can get hurt and can suffer from a lifetime injury. Also, they can se a bad example for upcoming tourists, which can lead to decline in toursist attractions.

Secondly, visitors could face an unforeseen tragedy on a trip, which can be more disadvantageous for the tourist, mental-wise. He might not able to overcome the previous tragedy.

To conclude, travelling to the tourist places when conditions are difficult could result in both positives and negatives for the visitors. Excitement feeling and independency could be positive and destructon of the physical and mental health may result negatively.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both benefits and disadvantages and maintain a generally relevant focus on tourists in difficult environments. The benefits you identify—excitement and greater independence—are understandable, while physical injury and psychological effects provide relevant disadvantages. However, several points are only briefly explained or are unclear. For example, the link between natural dopamine and avoiding drug use is not clearly tied to visiting the Sahara or Antarctic, and the claim that tourists may “se a bad example” and reduce tourism is not explained. The conclusion summarises the main points but does not add a clear, developed overall judgement. To strengthen the response, explain how these specific environments create the risks and benefits, and support each point with a concrete example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for benefits and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Signposting such as “To begin with,” “Another advantage,” “However,” and “Secondly” helps readers follow the main divisions. Overall, the ideas are arranged coherently, but connections within paragraphs are sometimes mechanical or unclear. The discussion of dopamine, drug use, and safety moves quickly between points without fully showing their relationship. Similarly, the paragraph about independence shifts to natural disasters without a clear explanation of how this supports the benefit. Some references, including “this” and “He,” are not fully precise. Use linking sentences to explain cause and effect, and make each paragraph develop one central idea in a clear sequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You attempt vocabulary suited to the topic, including “natural disasters,” “unforeseen tragedy,” “physical health,” and “independent.” These choices show an effort to discuss both practical and psychological consequences. However, spelling errors and inaccurate word choices are noticeable and sometimes make the meaning less clear: “repatitive,” “dopamin,” “alchohal,” “independency,” and “destructon.” Some phrases are also unnatural, such as “hard conditions,” “normal tourists attractions,” and “mental-wise.” Aim for accurate, natural collocations rather than using more complicated wording where a simpler phrase would be clearer. Proofreading spelling and checking word forms will improve precision, while a wider range of topic-specific expressions can help you explain the challenges of remote or extreme travel.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple sentences and attempts at more complex structures, including “If someone has already faced a similar kind of situation…, they could feel more independent” and “which can lead to…” clauses. This gives the response some structural variety. However, errors in sentence construction, verb forms, agreement, and articles recur and can make parts difficult to interpret. For example, “Since challenging tourism places has become…” is not a complete, well-formed opening, “It have seen so many times” has an incorrect subject and verb, and “He might not able to overcome” is missing a verb form. There are also problems with plural and possessive forms, as in “tourist’s brain.” Practise building accurate clauses first, then check subject–verb agreement and verb patterns in longer sentences.

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