Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-18
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)
The easiest way to offer plenty of houses for the homo-sapiens in the massive cities is to construct tall residential blocks. I largely agree with the said notion due to saves valuable land and provide more housing.
To commence with the views of disagreement, the first and foremost issue is that every individual wants to have their own home. To explain it, the disturbance while walking into the apartment that interrupts the nearby resident will not happen. Therefore, they have their own house to live freely without anyone interfering them.
Shifting toward the advantage, firstly, it can save the values of land. In other words, it can adjust large amount of people in the limited land. For example, in huge cities which are highly packed with population always has the problem how to manage the people who came to settle there. As a result, they settle most of the people by making the huge buildings.
Furthermore, another benefit of this trend is that it can provide more housing. To elaborate it, there is a problem in the large cities that each individual cannot buy the land, For example, increasing the number of population the land is not available for everyone. Thus, government has to make the tall buildings that more and more people can live there.
In conclusion, although every individual wants there own home and wants to live without restrictions, yet huge cities has limited amount of land and people cannot buy the land because of the high population in the vast cities and also they cannot buy land because of the high rate in the large cities.
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 by taking a clear position in favor of tall apartment blocks. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention land conservation and housing capacity, the arguments are repetitive and lack depth. For instance, the point about 'disturbance' in the second paragraph is not clearly linked to the main argument about tall buildings, and the conclusion merely restates the problem rather than synthesizing the arguments. To reach a higher band, ensure each paragraph introduces a distinct, well-supported point that directly reinforces your thesis, rather than repeating the same ideas about land scarcity.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or slightly unnatural, such as 'To commence with the views of disagreement' or 'Shifting toward the advantage'. Some transitions are used incorrectly, such as 'To explain it' or 'To elaborate it', which do not always logically connect the sentences. Additionally, the referencing is sometimes unclear, making the flow of ideas feel disjointed. Improving the variety and precision of your linking words will help create a smoother progression of ideas.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. You rely on basic phrasing such as 'huge cities', 'tall buildings', and 'make the tall buildings'. There are also some awkward word choices, such as 'homo-sapiens' (which is inappropriate for this formal context) and 'adjust large amount of people'. To improve, focus on using more precise academic collocations and avoiding informal or overly simplistic descriptors. Expanding your vocabulary to include more topic-specific terminology related to urban planning would be beneficial.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation, such as 'always has the problem how to manage' (missing subject/preposition), 'there own home' (incorrect homophone), and 'that more and more people can live there' (awkward phrasing). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are noticeable throughout the text. You should focus on subject-verb agreement, correct usage of articles, and ensuring that complex sentences are constructed accurately to avoid these recurring slips.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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