Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-10

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)

In today's fast growing world, urbanization leads to decreasing residential area in the metropolitan cities. A group of people believe that, government should provide homes to the city people that to construct horizontal buildings. While, others argued that, multi-story building has plenty of demerits. I strongly agree with the larger extent that, constructing tall story buildings are beneficial for people.

The fundamental reason for my inclination is that, there are enormous advantages of multi-story buildings. First and foremost, the tall buildings are required less space, because of these types of buildings have less width. In addition to this, megacities have not only congested area, but also it is more expensive. As a consequence, builders are mostly prefer to construct horizontal buildings rather than vertical buildings. Additionally, those types of modern apartments are more attractive as well as more residents can live. To cite an example, as per the survey of Times of India, in 2015, Mumbai, which are one of the most busiest city and having 2.5 million population. Indian higher authorities should make various types of tall buildings to fulfil the requirement of houses.

Furthermore, another reason is, there are wide range of people notice in the cities. Due to the overpopulation, many individuals are not afford raw houses in the urban areas, because the price of the raw houses are comparatively higher. As a result, most of the city people would like prefer to live in flats instead of vertical buildings. Moreover, these buildings provide large amount of amenities; such as, small theater and children playing area.

Conversely, we can not ignore the second view of the people, the are few drawbacks to live in multi-story buildings. Firstly, tall buildings are difficult to the old age people. Secondly, sometimes individuals are facing problems with there neighbors.

To conclude, there are bunch of benefits of the tall buildings. The government should not only focus on the improvement of the economy, but also focus on multi-story buildings as well. Ultimately, this development has also impact on the economy of the city.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt and maintains a clear position throughout. However, the development of ideas is inconsistent. While you provide reasons for supporting tall buildings, the supporting arguments are sometimes confusing or contradictory. For example, you state that builders prefer 'horizontal buildings' due to cost, which contradicts your argument that tall buildings are the solution to space constraints. Additionally, the example regarding Mumbai is incomplete and lacks a clear connection to the argument. To improve, ensure that your supporting points directly reinforce your main position and provide more logical, coherent explanations for your claims.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into paragraphs, and there is a basic attempt at logical progression. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or inaccurate. Phrases like 'In addition to this' and 'As a consequence' are used, but the logical links between sentences are frequently weak. For instance, the transition between the benefits of tall buildings and the mention of 'raw houses' is abrupt and confusing. Furthermore, the referencing is sometimes unclear, such as in the final paragraph where the connection between the economy and building height is not fully explained. Improving the flow between ideas will significantly enhance the readability of your work.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and variety required for a higher band. There are several instances of awkward word choices, such as 'raw houses' (likely meaning 'detached houses' or 'low-rise housing') and 'city people'. You also repeat words like 'buildings' and 'construct' frequently. While you attempt to use some topic-specific vocabulary, the lack of collocation awareness—such as 'tall story buildings' instead of 'high-rise buildings'—limits your score. To progress, focus on learning collocations and using more precise synonyms to avoid repetition.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('builders are mostly prefer'), incorrect preposition usage, and awkward phrasing ('the are few drawbacks to live'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with the use of semicolons and commas. While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of errors prevents the text from reaching a higher band. You should focus on mastering basic sentence construction and proofreading for common errors like article usage and verb forms.

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

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