Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-09

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

The best way to provide enough homes in large cities is to build tall apartment blocks.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Providing enough residents in large cities is on a debate, some agree with the constraction of tall buildings, while others disageree. H owever, i totally agree with the constraction of tall building due to limited space.

One major reason is that in urban cities there is unlimited space. Building a tall houses with eight floors each twenty rooms in same area can accomondate over 150 people in same area which was initially cosidered as a small area. Moreover, despite of accomondating huge number of people it can also reduce the expansion of the city for residatial houses hence construction of tall houses can be prefered. For instance, due to limmited space in Nairobi people preffer to stay in tall apartments than building their own.

Futhermore, consturuction of tall houses is cheaper. Compared to the constuction of one roof house for hundred people working in large cities can be costy beacuse each person has to purchase the land and higher the masonary to come and build the house therefore tall building fits because it is build taller to consider large number of people. Additionally, it is time consuming. Urban workers has to spend time commuting from their resisdnts to work area place and may be affected by trafic jams on the road hence arriving at the work place tired and bored. For example, Eldoret people choses to stay in tall apartments due to high cost in purchasing the land and constracting thier own houses.

In conclusion, despite of comfortability tall apartments are best in providing enough spaces in urban areas because it favors the space and high charges.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you “totally agree” that tall apartment buildings are a suitable response to limited urban space, and you give relevant examples from Nairobi and Eldoret. The response also offers more than one reason, including accommodating many residents on a small site and reducing the need for people to buy separate plots. However, the support is only partly developed. The claim that tall buildings are “cheaper” is not fully explained, and the point about commuting shifts away from the main question of providing enough homes. The conclusion repeats your view but adds little. To strengthen the response, explain each reason more precisely and connect every example directly to housing supply.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion. Linking expressions such as “Moreover,” “Furthermore,” and “For instance” help signal additions and examples. However, progression within the body paragraphs is not always clear: the second paragraph moves from construction costs to commuting, without explaining how commuting supports the argument about providing homes. Some links are also mechanical, and phrases such as “hence” and “therefore” do not always make the relationship between ideas clear. Organise each paragraph around one main reason, then explain it and give a directly relevant example. Clearer connections between sentences would make the argument easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some topic-related vocabulary, including “urban cities,” “limited space,” “apartments,” “commuting,” and “traffic jams,” so the reader can identify the subject and your main points. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, sometimes making meaning harder to understand. For example, “providing enough residents” does not express the idea of supplying homes, and “unlimited space” contradicts your argument about scarcity. Repeated use of “tall houses” is also less precise than the task’s wording. Spelling errors such as “constraction,” “accomondate,” and “resisdnts” are noticeable. Build a more accurate range of housing and urban-planning terms, and check spelling and collocations carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentences, including clauses introduced by “because,” “while,” and “therefore.” This shows an effort to connect ideas, but complex sentences are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to make some passages difficult to read. Examples include “in urban cities there is unlimited space,” “Building a tall houses,” and “Urban workers has to spend time”; these show problems with sentence construction, articles, plurals and subject–verb agreement. Some sentences also run several ideas together, as in the commuting point, which weakens clarity. Practise building accurate basic sentences first, then add one subordinate clause at a time. Check agreement, articles and punctuation when revising.

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