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)

Over the past few years, there has been rise in the development of sky-scrappers, especially in the cities, to accommodate the increasing population. Before, I give my suggestion, it is important to discuss alternate options as well.

As population of the world is increasing at ever-lasting pace, so it is important for every cities to built high-rise buildings. It is mainly because, urbanisation, which allows people to set in a city from rural areas. By constructing upwards, thousands of residents can be live in small-scale land. Consequently, it can make use of resources like land, that is gradually becoming scarce, efficiently. Additionally, high density model makes public infrastructure— mass transit systems, water systems highly cost-effective that eventually would help to preserve land for agriculture.

Moreover, government can also find other alternatives to solve the problems of housing shortages, rather than relying solely on building tall. For instance, local governments can approve a plan of developing town houses on rural-areas that is near their work. This would reduce the burden of employees to get a house in cities, so they could not get late to the work. As result, it would save reduce their cost of living because, rent of city houses are usually much higher than the rural areas. Ultimately, their overall cost would be reduced.

In conclusion, i do agree to some extent, that building tall apartment block is a best way yo overcome shortage of housing. However, local government should also look out for other options as well because high-rise building often contribute in congestion that leads toward pollution— such as Noise & Air.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing the benefits of high-rise buildings and offering an alternative perspective. However, the development of ideas is somewhat uneven. While the benefits of high-density living are mentioned, the alternative suggestion of 'developing town houses on rural-areas' is slightly contradictory to the goal of accommodating large city populations, as it might encourage urban sprawl rather than solving city housing shortages. The position is clear, but the arguments could be more robustly supported with more specific examples or deeper analysis of the trade-offs involved in urban planning.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas from the introduction to the conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'Consequently', 'Additionally', and 'Moreover' are used to link sentences and paragraphs. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are instances where the flow is interrupted by awkward phrasing, such as 'Before, I give my suggestion'. Referencing is generally clear, but the connection between the rural housing alternative and the city housing problem could be more explicitly articulated to improve the overall logical flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task, with attempts to use topic-specific terms like 'urbanisation', 'mass transit systems', and 'high density model'. However, there are several errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'ever-lasting pace' (instead of 'ever-increasing pace'), 'set in a city' (instead of 'settle in a city'), and 'sky-scrappers' (spelling error). These errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the precision of the argument. To reach a higher band, you should focus on more accurate collocations and avoid informal phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the attempt at complex sentences is evident, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with articles ('the development of sky-scrappers', 'every cities'), verb forms ('can be live', 'built high-rise'), and prepositional usage ('on rural-areas'). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are some awkward comma placements. The errors are noticeable and occur throughout the text, although they rarely prevent the reader from understanding the intended meaning. Increasing the accuracy of basic grammatical structures will significantly improve your score.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.