Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-17
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)
Accommodation is a serious issue in large cities due to growth in population, and build tall apartment blocks is an effective way to provide housing. I strongly agree with this view because of high-rise building we can accommodate more people with utilising less land.
Firstly, within a tall apartment building apartment we can make more home for people to live, so instead of making homes for seperate families its good that we can accommodate them in a building so the less land space will be utilised. For example, for 5 families instead of making 5 houses of 300 square feet, which will be 1500 sq/feet in total we are using apartment so now each family have 300 sq/feet house on the same land space. Secondly, there is another reason is that building houses is very costly as compare to apartments, in which you are just occupying a floor and maintaining it also easy.
Another reason is, using less land will be beneficial for making parks, roads and other facilities for life. As the growth in population is increasing and the need to accommodate more and more is people rising, we are cutting more trees and building houses and ignoring the other facilities. We need more hospitals, schools , playgrounds and other facilities for our environment as well as for our own well-being.
In conclution, tall building apartment is an effective way to control the housing issue with maintaining our surrounding of lands.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt and maintains a clear position throughout. However, the essay is under the 250-word minimum, which limits the depth of the arguments. While the ideas regarding land efficiency and cost are relevant, they are somewhat repetitive and lack detailed development. The examples provided, such as the calculation of square footage, are a bit simplistic. To reach a higher band, you should expand on your points with more sophisticated reasoning and ensure the essay meets the minimum length requirement to allow for a more comprehensive exploration of the topic.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear introduction and conclusion. You use basic cohesive devices like 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'Another reason is' to signal the progression of ideas. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the second paragraph where the transition between cost and maintenance is abrupt. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring smoother transitions between sentences would enhance the overall coherence of your writing.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks range and precision. You rely on repetitive phrasing, such as 'making homes' and 'building houses'. There are also some awkward collocations and word choices, such as 'maintaining it also easy' and 'surrounding of lands'. To improve, you should aim to use more academic vocabulary and precise collocations. For example, instead of 'making more home', use 'increasing housing density'. Expanding your vocabulary to include more topic-specific terminology would significantly improve your score.
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. Examples include 'build tall apartment blocks is an effective way' (should be 'building'), 'as compare to' (should be 'compared to'), and 'the less land space will be utilised' (should be 'less land space'). Punctuation errors, such as missing spaces before commas and inconsistent capitalization, are also present. You need to focus on subject-verb agreement and the correct use of comparative structures to improve your grammatical accuracy.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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