Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-24

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)

Residential accommodation has become a major problem in large cities. Folks always try to have a separate home. In big cities they created the elevated buildings to provide residents homes. Cities with massive population always have problem of space for citizens. I strongly consent that living in massive populated cities individuals should consider living in apartments instead of villas or mansions.

To commence with space is a crucial issue in big cities. Large cities needs more space for offices, markets and industries, due to these development there is less space available for residential purpose. For instance London or China are a example of these issues, where there is a less space available for villa or mansions. Citizens are considering living in high rise building apartments to have home.

In addition to this high rise building apartments has several benefits and drawbacks as well. Living in 10th floor apartment sometime become a headache for daily commute, residents cannot do this travel for small day to day tasks. On the other hand at-least they have home to live in and start their life. Parking is a main issue for living in apartments because they have to provide parking to everybody who is living in those apartments. Privacy is a issue living in apartments however living in separate villas will provide us more privacy.

In my perspective living in cities with massive population residents should consider living in apartments as it is a cheap way of living as well. Villas and mansions less available in big cities however if they are available in some areas, they will be extremely expensive to consider.

AI examiner evaluation

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 space constraints and the benefits of affordability, the arguments are brief and lack depth. For instance, the discussion on 'benefits and drawbacks' in the third paragraph is a bit superficial, and the connection between the drawbacks (like parking and privacy) and your overall agreement could be more robustly explained. To reach a higher band, ensure that each supporting point is fully expanded with more detailed reasoning or illustrative examples rather than just listing them.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. You use some cohesive devices such as 'To commence with', 'In addition to this', and 'On the other hand' to link ideas. However, the flow is occasionally mechanical, and some transitions feel slightly repetitive. Referencing is sometimes unclear; for example, in the second paragraph, 'due to these development' is grammatically awkward and disrupts the logical flow. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that pronouns clearly refer back to their antecedents would enhance the overall coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, but it lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. You rely on basic terms like 'big cities', 'massive population', and 'problem'. There are also some collocation errors, such as 'massive populated cities' instead of 'densely populated cities' and 'a example of these issues' (should be 'examples'). While the meaning is clear throughout, the lack of more sophisticated or topic-specific vocabulary limits the score. Try to incorporate more precise academic collocations to express your ideas more effectively.

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 distract the reader. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('Large cities needs', 'building apartments has'), missing articles ('is a issue'), and awkward phrasing ('due to these development'). While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your main points, they indicate a lack of control over more complex structures. To improve, focus on mastering basic subject-verb agreement and article usage, and try to vary your sentence structure with more accurate complex clauses.

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