Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-01

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)

In my personal opinion, apartments in tall building in the big cities is the best possible way to increase residences. In many of the mega cities it has already become trendy to build these for both the residencial and corporate purposes. Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan are the best examples. I once visited my aunt in Karachi and she used to live in a flat at the 17th floor. I do still remember that we took a lift to get to her apartment that is single bedroom residence with a kitchen and lounge.

I got very much fascinated by the whole idea of how people are living there and how they share these residences. Back in 2009 its was not very much popular in Lahore to be living in one of those homes like the one she used to live.

As Karachi infrastructure is not as much planned as Lahore so opting for such alternatives has always been a smart move. Now in Lahore too urbanisation has made people to go for such options too. Candidly speaking this is best possible way to get a home in these cities where cost of life is already keeping people at hook all the time.

This provide home to many people in the same space like there are many examples of such in Karachi and Lahore where flats has been booked and built for such purposes. With the proper risk management these are nonetheless is an excellent option to get a home in a city where cost of living is quite expensive. these are usually of different sizes with the cost dependent on whether you like a single bedroom apartment or double. So people can choose it according to their lifestyle.

The point of contention is that these building should only be built with proper planning and risks management. Unfortunately in many of these building this has often been neglected or not properly managed. There are so many examples that shows how the blunder of one resident cause the whole building to blown in ashes. Last year we have seen a very much of like this in Karachi where the cylinder exploding cause the tangible and intangible losses. No proper evacuation system was available, no emergency route was there people got stuck in lifts and fell from stairs, some could not even get the chance to get out of their home. So that one of the very much reason why I still feared to live in these buildings. Concluding the discussion by the fact that undoubtedly this is the best way to make these mega cities a home of millions with proper implementation of safety standards.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position, though the development of ideas is somewhat uneven. You provide relevant examples from Karachi and Lahore, which helps ground your argument. However, the essay relies heavily on personal anecdotes rather than broader socio-economic analysis, which limits the depth of the discussion. While you acknowledge the counter-argument regarding safety, the transition between the benefits of high-rise living and the risks is a bit abrupt. To improve, ensure that your arguments are more balanced and analytical, focusing on urban planning principles rather than just personal experiences.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, but the logical flow between them is sometimes disjointed. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'Candidly speaking' and 'The point of contention is', but these are occasionally used in a mechanical or slightly unnatural way. Referencing is sometimes unclear, particularly when you refer to 'such examples' or 'this' without a clear antecedent. The paragraphing is functional, but the internal structure of the paragraphs could be improved by using more sophisticated linking words to connect your supporting points to your main arguments.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

Your vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it lacks the precision and variety required for a higher band. You use some repetitive phrasing, such as 'best possible way' and 'very much'. There are also instances of awkward collocations, such as 'cost of life is already keeping people at hook' and 'blown in ashes'. While you attempt to use some topic-specific vocabulary like 'urbanisation' and 'infrastructure', the overall range is limited, and some word choices are imprecise, which occasionally hinders the clarity of your expression.

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 affect readability. Common issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'flats has been booked'), article usage (e.g., 'at the 17th floor' instead of 'on'), and tense inconsistencies. Some sentences are poorly constructed, such as 'there are so many examples that shows how the blunder of one resident cause the whole building to blown in ashes.' These errors are frequent enough to cause some difficulty for the reader, although the meaning is generally understandable.

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