Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-02

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)

It's argued that the most advantageous method to create enough residential spaces in large cities is to construct tall apartment blocks. I wholeheartedly agree with this opinion and will provide reasons to support it in this essay.

The best way to provide enough homes in large cities is to construct tall buildings because it saves a lot of space in the cities. As the city's population grows it becomes more challenging to handle. By creating tall buildings you host a significant number of people in a small area as compared to creating several buildings on different places which will occupy significantly larger area. This helps saving the land for other purposes such as business, schools or hospitals which are essential for the people's general well-being.

By constructing tall apartment blocks the areas around the cities are protected from the city expansion. Due to the increasing population cities expand rapidly to accommodate its growing citizens. In result, a lot of farms and other areas are replaced with the residential blocks. It impacts heavily on the life of residents of those areas as their income largely depends on farming and agriculture overall. If more people are accommodated in the tall buildings the need for expanding the city will decrease considerably.

To conclude, building of taller residential blocks is the most beneficial way to solve the problem of housing in the large cities. Because it not only helps accommodating people in a small place but also solves the problem of city expansion and replacing of farms with the apartment blocks.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

You have clearly addressed the prompt and maintained a consistent position throughout the essay. The ideas are relevant, focusing on space efficiency and the prevention of urban sprawl. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, while you mention that tall buildings save space for 'business, schools or hospitals,' you could have strengthened your argument by providing a more specific example or a more detailed explanation of how this density improves urban infrastructure. The conclusion effectively summarizes your main points, but the overall depth of the arguments remains at a Band 6 level, as the ideas are presented but not fully extended with sophisticated reasoning.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each paragraph has a central theme, which helps the reader follow your argument. You use some cohesive devices, such as 'In result' (though this is a collocation error) and 'To conclude.' However, the use of linking words is somewhat repetitive and occasionally mechanical. The transition between ideas within paragraphs could be smoother; for example, the jump from discussing space-saving to the impact on farmers is a bit abrupt. Improving the variety of your cohesive devices would help elevate your score in this criterion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'advantageous,' 'residential spaces,' and 'accommodate.' However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation that prevent a higher score. For example, 'In result' should be 'As a result,' and 'replacing of farms' is slightly awkward phrasing. You rely on fairly common vocabulary; to reach a higher band, you should aim to incorporate more precise, academic collocations and less common lexical items related to urban planning, such as 'high-density housing,' 'urban sprawl,' or 'infrastructure development.'

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While your meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors throughout the text. For instance, 'building of taller residential blocks' should be 'the construction of taller residential blocks,' and 'accommodating people in a small place' would be better as 'accommodating people in a limited area.' There are also minor issues with articles and prepositions, such as 'on different places' instead of 'in different places.' While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to keep the score in the 6.0 range.

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

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