Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-30

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 6.0)

The better way to live in homes situated in large residential areas is to built tall apartment blocks. Because it helps to give more space for people to live . I largely disagree that this is the best overall strategy due to financial and social drawbacks.

On the one hand , high-rise residents towers offers clear benefits for modern urban centers. Because , land in big cities is extremely limited and costly, building upwards allows local authorities to maximize the number of housing units per square meter. This approach prevent cities from sprawling too far into surrounding natural spaces. Additionally, it is easy to concentrating residents in tall apartments makes it easier and cheaper to provide basic service such as electricity, water and public transportation.

On the other hand, being dependent on high rise buildings creates significant challenges, Firstly, the construction and ongoing maintenance costs of big towers is so high, which often fluctuates the property prices and makes them unaffordable for low-income families. Finally, from a safety perspective, managing emergencies like fires or structural damage becomes more dangerous and complex in high-rise residents.

In conclusion, although tall apartments blocks are useful for optimizing urban space, they bring high costs, social issues, and safety risks. Therefore, they should not be seen as the ultimate solution, and cities should instead focus on suburban transport links and mid-rise housing developments

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position, but it fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 250 words, which significantly impacts the development of ideas. While the arguments regarding land scarcity and maintenance costs are relevant, they are somewhat underdeveloped due to the brevity of the essay. The conclusion introduces new ideas (suburban transport links) that were not previously discussed in the body paragraphs, which prevents a fully cohesive development of the argument. To improve, you should expand on your points with more detailed examples and ensure your conclusion only synthesizes the points already made.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas from the introduction to the conclusion. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'Additionally' to link your points. However, the flow is occasionally interrupted by awkward phrasing, such as the repetitive use of 'Because' at the start of sentences. The paragraphing is appropriate, but the transition between the final body paragraph and the conclusion could be smoother. Improving the variety of your linking words would help the essay read more naturally.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'urban centers', 'maximize', and 'structural damage'. However, there are several instances of imprecise word choice and collocation errors, such as 'high-rise residents' (should be 'high-rise residences' or 'towers') and 'fluctuates the property prices' (should be 'drives up' or 'increases'). These errors do not impede communication, but they limit the score. To reach a higher band, focus on using more precise collocations and avoiding repetitive phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('towers offers', 'it is easy to concentrating') and incorrect verb forms ('to built'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with unnecessary spaces before commas. While the meaning is generally clear, these persistent errors indicate a lack of control over complex structures. You should focus on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and ensuring that your verb forms are consistent with the intended tense.

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

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