Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-07

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 is widely ackowledged that for solving housing problems in big cities, building tall apartment blocks is the best way. while I agree with this statement to some extent, I believe that its potential negative consequences cannot be overlooked.

Supporting my agreement to the given statement, I firmly believe that tall buildings play an important role to accommodate large number of people in a limited land . This means that most land in large cities have been already occupied by shops, offices and public facilities. For example, a single high-rise building can provide homes for hundered of families that would otherwise support only a few houses. As a result, construction of long buildings would be an effective way to address housing shortages in densely populated cities.

Explaing the another supportive point in against this statement, it is true that crowded cities are dealing with the shortage of land for providing accomodation facilities to public .eventhough establish of tall buildings may solve this problem, this may lead to overcrowding and pressure on public services. this is becasue large number of people living in a small area may increase the demand of facilities such as schools, hospitals and many more. Consequently, these services may become less efficient, which negatively effects quality of life for residents.

In conclusion, although installing tall buildings could be the best way to solve accommodation problems, doing so can create another challange for society.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing the benefits and drawbacks of tall apartment blocks. However, the essay is under the 250-word minimum requirement, which significantly impacts the development of ideas. While the position is clear, the arguments are somewhat brief and lack depth. For instance, the point regarding the pressure on public services is relevant but could have been expanded with more specific examples or a more nuanced discussion. Because the response is under-length, it fails to fully develop the ideas to the extent required for a higher band score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Supporting my agreement', 'As a result', and 'In conclusion', which help guide the reader. However, the transition between the two body paragraphs is slightly awkward, particularly the phrase 'Explaing the another supportive point in against this statement', which is confusing and grammatically incorrect. Paragraphing is present, but the overall flow is somewhat mechanical. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring smoother transitions between ideas would enhance the coherence of the essay.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the student to convey their meaning clearly. There are some attempts at topic-specific vocabulary, such as 'densely populated' and 'accommodation facilities'. However, there are several spelling errors, such as 'ackowledged', 'hundered', 'Explaing', 'accomodation', 'eventhough', 'establish', 'becasue', and 'challange'. These errors are frequent and detract from the overall quality of the writing. To achieve a higher score, the student needs to focus on accurate spelling and expanding their range of vocabulary to include more precise, academic collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'for solving housing problems' (should be 'to solve'), 'most land... have been' (subject-verb agreement error), 'construction of long buildings' (inappropriate word choice; 'tall' or 'high-rise' is better), and 'negatively effects' (should be 'affects'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with missing spaces after periods and incorrect capitalization. The frequency of these errors limits the score, as they occur in almost every sentence.

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

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