Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-15

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)

Housing shortage is a major problem in most large cities around the world. While some people believe that constructing tall apartment blocks is the best solution. To a major extent, I strongly agree with the given view, my inclination will be elucidate in the following paragraphs.

To begin with, the high rise residential buildings are a more practical for the land issues in big cities. To elaborate, in urban areas there is limited land is available and cost of land is also high. As a result, high rise buildings are able to take a large amount of families in one apartment. For example, in a large cities like Mumbai and Delhi have many numbers of high apartment blocks which provide home for many people in small space of land.

Furthermore, apartment blocks are more sustainable and cost-effective. In other words, people who lives in high-rise blocks can share common electricity bill, water bill, and many construction facilities. Consequently, it is far cheaper in vertical housing rather than in outward's ones. This can reduce monthly budget and environment impact.

However, it also depends on families priority. This means, families with children and older people mostly prefer to live in a ground floor or a houses rather than high-rise residential area. In addition, it also creates public pressure. Which means, this type of residential areas are over crowded and made traffic issues and pressure on education system and health care system.

To conclude, although many people prefer to live in houses to overcome public pressure, whereas in urban societies due to high cost of land and to save environment tall apartment blocks are necessa

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt and maintains a clear position throughout. The arguments regarding land scarcity and cost-effectiveness are relevant and supported by examples like Mumbai and Delhi. However, the development is somewhat uneven; the counter-argument regarding social pressure is introduced but lacks depth, and the conclusion is incomplete, cutting off mid-sentence. While the main ideas are clear, the lack of a finished conclusion and the somewhat superficial exploration of the drawbacks prevent this from reaching a higher band. The position is consistent, but the overall development of ideas needs more thorough explanation to fully satisfy the requirements of the task.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. Cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'Furthermore', and 'In other words' are used to guide the reader. However, some transitions feel mechanical, and there are instances where the flow is interrupted by grammatical errors, such as the sentence fragment in the introduction ('While some people believe...'). The referencing is generally clear, but the abrupt ending of the final paragraph negatively impacts the overall coherence of the piece. Improved control over sentence-level linking and ensuring a complete, well-structured conclusion would enhance the logical progression.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There are attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary such as 'residential buildings', 'sustainable', and 'cost-effective'. However, there are noticeable errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'outward's ones' instead of 'low-rise housing' or 'sprawling developments', and 'made traffic issues' instead of 'caused traffic congestion'. The range is sufficient to communicate the main points, but the lack of more sophisticated or precise terminology limits the score. The vocabulary is functional but lacks the flexibility required for higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in subject-verb agreement ('people who lives', 'cities... have many numbers'), article usage ('in a large cities'), and sentence fragments ('While some people believe...'). Additionally, there are issues with prepositions and word forms ('environment impact' instead of 'environmental impact'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to be distracting. To improve, the writer should focus on basic grammatical accuracy, particularly with pluralization and verb forms, before attempting more complex structures.

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