Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-08

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)

Now a days urbanization has increased the demand for housing. In this regard, building high story apartments will provide enough homes in large cities. In this essay, I will discuss about the importance of many story buildings and I will give my opinion and will draw a conclusion at the end.

Firstly, rapid increase in the population has increased the needs for more housing which in turn has increased congestion in big cities. To meet the needs large areas are required to construct homes. For this reason, In cities many story tall buildings are consttructed which occupy a limited area but provides more space for a huge number of people to live.

Secondly, living in apartments increase the social interaction of people with other people around them. Some people come from farway areas or from other cities for the purpose of job.They have no relatives in cities by living in shared apartments they go to their jobs and leave their children alone without any fear because they think that they are not alone. Hence, people can go to their fearlessly and it provides satisfaction and peace of mind.

On the other hand, tall buildings are greatly harmed during volcanic erruption. The government and construction companies must keep an eye on the builders so that the material used in buildings should be of high quality. Good quality material will increase the life of buildings and will improve the living standards of people.

In my opinion, their is a lot of competition for living in big cities, so building huge apartments will be beneficial for living.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The essay addresses the prompt by discussing the benefits of tall apartment blocks. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. For instance, the argument regarding social interaction is not clearly linked to the prompt's focus on 'providing enough homes'. The counter-argument regarding volcanic eruptions is largely irrelevant to the context of urban planning and housing density, which suggests a lack of focus on the core issue. While a position is stated, it is not consistently supported throughout the essay, and the conclusion is quite brief. To improve, ensure that every paragraph directly supports the central argument regarding housing solutions in cities.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the progression of ideas is sometimes disjointed. For example, the transition between the benefits of social interaction and the sudden mention of volcanic eruptions is abrupt and lacks logical flow. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'On the other hand', but they are sometimes used mechanically. The referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the second paragraph where the connection between 'shared apartments' and 'fearlessly' is not fully explained, making the argument difficult to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and range required for a higher band. There is some repetition of basic terms like 'cities', 'buildings', and 'people'. Some word choices are unnatural, such as 'many story tall buildings' instead of 'high-rise buildings' or 'multi-storey buildings'. There are also minor errors in word formation, such as 'farway' instead of 'faraway'. To reach a higher band, you should aim to use more sophisticated collocations and topic-specific vocabulary related to urban development and housing infrastructure.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Examples include 'Now a days' (should be 'Nowadays'), 'their is a lot of competition' (should be 'there is'), and 'consttructed' (spelling error). There are also issues with article usage and subject-verb agreement, such as 'living in apartments increase' (should be 'increases'). While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of these errors prevents the writing from reaching a higher band. Focusing on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and spelling would be beneficial.

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

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