Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-04

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 5.0)

In contemporary society, large cities are dealing with lack of space to build houses . The only solution to provide home to crowd would be making tall buildings .

Lack of space put bad affect on children's growth. Nowadays, children not only love to stay at home but also they even like to play at their home instead of playing outside . As in the apartments there is not enough space to play such as garden . Flats only have balcony which is not enough to play . Hence, not getting involved in outdoor activities childern experiencing some problems such as obesity. Moreover, in large building mostly few lifts are available which are not sufficient for people who are living there. People feel difficulty in commuting specially older people because they do not have good stamina as youngsters . They cannot use stairs in case of emergency.

However, to make large houses either authorities have to cut trees or have to buy land near city which might be fertile . If land used to make houses , there would be more chances of starving , people will not get enough food .Along with this, if government start cutting trees to make houses , it could cause deforestation, soil erosion and many other problem as well . which may be hard to deal later. Therefore , tall building should be made in large cities.

To conclude, although tall building has various benefits , I believe houses have more benefits that cannot be neglected.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt but lacks a clear, consistent position. While you acknowledge the necessity of tall buildings, the conclusion contradicts the body paragraphs by suggesting that 'houses have more benefits,' which confuses the reader regarding your stance. The ideas are somewhat underdeveloped; for instance, the argument about children's obesity is linked to apartment living, but it lacks a strong connection to the prompt's focus on urban housing solutions. To improve, ensure your position is clearly stated in the introduction and maintained throughout, and provide more focused arguments that directly address the trade-offs of high-density living versus urban sprawl.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, but the progression of ideas is often disjointed. While you use some cohesive devices like 'Moreover' and 'However,' the transitions between sentences are sometimes abrupt. For example, the shift from discussing children's health to elevator issues within the same paragraph lacks a smooth logical bridge. Additionally, the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the vague use of 'they' and 'which' in the second paragraph. Improving the use of linking words and ensuring each paragraph focuses on a single, well-developed main idea would significantly enhance the flow and coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for basic communication but lacks the precision and variety required for higher bands. There are several instances of awkward collocations and word choice errors, such as 'making tall buildings' instead of 'constructing high-rise apartments' and 'put bad affect' instead of 'have a negative effect.' You rely on simple, repetitive language, and there is little evidence of less common lexical items or idiomatic expressions. To improve, focus on learning topic-specific collocations related to urban planning and housing, and work on using more precise verbs and adjectives to convey your ideas more effectively.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include missing articles ('in large cities', 'in case of emergency'), subject-verb agreement errors ('childern experiencing'), and incorrect preposition usage. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with unnecessary spaces before periods and commas. While the meaning is generally understandable, the high frequency of these errors limits the score. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence construction, specifically article usage and pluralization, and proofread your work to ensure punctuation is placed correctly.

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

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