Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-10

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)

With the growing population day by day, i strongly believe that the best way to accommodate people in large cities is by building multi-storied apartment blocks.

Nowadays population growth has increased significantly, resulting less free space in urban areas for other necessities such as shops, parks schools or even offices. Besides, Migration of people from rural areas to large cities for the purpose of work is another reason that cities are being overcrowded, and facing the urgency to accommodate a large number of people in urban areas.

To accommodate everything and everyone in the city area, people started to build tall apartment buildings.

Previously, people used to live with their extended families under one roof, but nowadays city people prefer to have their own home, as they prefer to live away from their parents. So the need of one home has now increased to two to three per family. This change of behaviour over time, increased the need of more accommodations in large cities.

Tall apartment blocks are of great help as more people live close by and they can stay connected but can a threat in time of emergencies such as fire hazard or earthquake.

So it can be said that I strongly believe that large cities are facing more population ever than before and to accommodate everyone building tall apartment blocks is the best way.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

Your position is clear from the opening: you strongly support tall apartment blocks, and you give relevant reasons, including population growth, rural-to-urban migration and changing household preferences. You also acknowledge a drawback—risks during fires or earthquakes—which adds some balance. However, the response addresses the question only partially because the main claims are mostly asserted rather than explained with specific examples or evidence. The point about families needing two or three homes, for instance, needs clearer reasoning and support, and the emergency-safety concern is not developed or weighed against the benefits. The response is also 23 words below the required minimum. Develop each reason further and explain why high-rise construction is the best option compared with alternatives.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable overall structure: it introduces your view, presents reasons, mentions a disadvantage and returns to your position. Ideas are generally relevant and can be followed, but progression between them is not always smooth. The sentence about building tall apartments follows the discussion of overcrowding without explaining the connection in detail, while the shift to extended families introduces a new point that would benefit from a clearer link to housing demand. Cohesive phrases such as “Besides” and “So” are used, but the conclusion largely repeats the opening rather than drawing the argument together. Use distinct paragraphs for each main reason and the counterpoint, and make the relationship between each claim and your position explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “urban areas,” “overcrowded,” “extended families” and “emergencies.” There are also attempts at more specific language, such as “multi-storied apartment blocks.” However, some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward, which limits precision: “resulting less free space” and “facing the urgency to accommodate” do not express the intended relationships naturally, and “more population ever than before” is unclear. Repetition of “accommodate” and “large cities” also narrows the range. Aim for accurate collocations and vary repeated terms—for example, use “housing demand,” “high-rise buildings” and “limited land” where appropriate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentences, including clauses introduced by “as,” “but” and “such as,” and the main meaning is usually understandable. However, errors occur in sentence construction, agreement, articles and punctuation. For example, “resulting less free space” needs a grammatical link such as “resulting in less free space,” while “Tall apartment blocks are of great help as more people live close by and they can stay connected but can a threat” has an incomplete construction in its final clause. Capitalisation is also inconsistent, as in “i” and “Migration,” and several long sentences need clearer punctuation. Practise building accurate complex sentences and check each sentence for a complete subject and verb before submission.

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

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