Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-27

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)

Construction of tall apartment buildings is an excellent way to fulfill the need of residents in big cities. I largely agree with this concept because It is a easy way to solve the residential problems in busy areas as such big buildings have so many apartments. These apartments also provide commercial facilities within building. Furthermore, huge amount of cost is saved in such process because building individual houses or big societies required a huge budget for construction as well.

A tall building of many apartments provide enough sort of facilities to their residents because such type of area is considered as a commercial area as well. If a person lives in such type of atmosphere, then he had an easy access to such facilities which include healthcare, parking space, cafes and internet services. In contrast, local societies lack these kind of services and they had to arrange these on their own. For Instance, Centaurus apartments which are located in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Another advantage that I consider is these flats are also less expensive in comparison with construction of societies which include individual houses for separate families or persons. Major expenses such as buying a huge acre of land and a huge budget for development of many houses required in development of local residential system, whereas apartments saved such expenditure. Some apartments are also fully furnished as well.

In conclusion, It firmly agreed with my opinion that building tall blocks for apartments is much beneficial and it not only saved cost of investors and residents but also serve them with many different sort of facilities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by expressing a clear position in favor of tall apartment blocks. The ideas are relevant, focusing on space efficiency, integrated facilities, and cost-effectiveness. However, the development is somewhat limited. While you mention the Centaurus apartments as an example, the explanation remains superficial. To reach a higher band, you should expand on your arguments with more detailed reasoning or specific consequences. For instance, you could discuss the environmental impact or the social implications of high-density living. The conclusion is a bit repetitive and does not fully synthesize the main points, but the overall position remains consistent throughout the essay.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your argument. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'In contrast', and 'In conclusion' to link ideas. However, the use of these devices is sometimes mechanical or slightly inaccurate, such as the transition 'In contrast, local societies lack these kind of services'. Additionally, the referencing is occasionally unclear, particularly with the use of 'such type of area' and 'such expenditure'. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that pronouns clearly refer back to their antecedents would enhance the flow and logical progression of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. You rely on repetitive phrasing, such as 'huge amount of cost', 'huge budget', and 'huge acre of land'. There are also some collocation errors, such as 'fulfill the need of residents' (should be 'needs') and 'provide enough sort of facilities' (should be 'a range of facilities'). While the meaning is clear, the range of vocabulary is limited to common, everyday words. To improve, try to incorporate more academic collocations and precise terminology related to urban planning and housing development.

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 'It is a easy way' (article error), 'building individual houses... required a huge budget' (tense inconsistency), and 'they had to arrange these' (incorrect tense). Subject-verb agreement is also inconsistent, such as 'A tall building... provide' instead of 'provides'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and consistent verb tense usage would significantly improve the accuracy of your writing.

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.