Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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)

There is considerable debate that whether tall apartments blocks are the most efficient way to cater large cities, for providing enough homes to residents. However with increase in population density in large cities, there has been a raising demand to provide homes to people. Thus, according to me building tall apartments would be beneficial for the large cities.

The main problem nowadays is the exponential rise of number of people in the cities, and with the improved medical facilities the death rates are gone fortunately fallen which directly resulted in the increment of population. Hence, there has been soaring demand for more spaces in the cities to adjust the crowd in the most systematical way, and due to this reason i believe that tall apartment blocks have become necessity. Furthermore, the Government should take this problem in serious manner and provide some schemes which provide all the required facilities to counter this adversity.

In addition to this, there are some disagreements which should be taken in account like building of tall skyscrapers can cost enormous amount and would also spread the fine particulates in the environment. Considering this fact, this can make things out of control and may make the government force to minimize this type of construction, because the environment safety is the prior concern than the economical issues. Hence, i would agree with this concept until there is no harm done on environment, because of the construction of magnificent buildings.

To conclude, in this fast moving world it has become indispensable to ensure that the large cities and colonies are build in the most efficient way so that it can provide comfort to the residents when they are exhausted from daily routines. Hence, it is important to make the cities in more structured way by constructing long and large apartments while taking care of environment and other problems at same time.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing the benefits and drawbacks of tall apartment blocks. You maintain a clear position throughout, agreeing with the concept provided that environmental concerns are addressed. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the point about 'fine particulates' is mentioned but not fully explained or linked back to the main argument effectively. To reach a higher band, ensure that each supporting point is fully explored with specific examples or logical consequences. The conclusion is a bit repetitive, restating the need for efficiency without adding new insight.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized into paragraphs, each with a clear focus. You use a range of cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'In addition to this', and 'To conclude' to guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the phrase 'this can make things out of control', where the antecedent is vague. Paragraphing is used appropriately, but the flow between sentences could be improved by varying the structure of your cohesive links to make the progression feel more natural.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'exponential rise', 'population density', and 'indispensable'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'death rates are gone fortunately fallen' (which is grammatically and lexically awkward) and 'take this problem in serious manner' (should be 'take this problem seriously'). While you attempt to use less common vocabulary, these slips occasionally hinder the precision of your argument. Expanding your range of collocations will help improve your score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation. Examples include 'There is considerable debate that whether' (incorrect structure), 'the death rates are gone fortunately fallen' (tense and word order issues), and 'the government force to minimize' (should be 'force the government to minimize'). While these errors do not impede overall communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Focus on subject-verb agreement and ensuring that complex sentence constructions are grammatically sound.

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

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