Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-11

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)

Urbanization has a great impact in the growth of a country and also it provides opportunity to people live there and also have an access to the necessity of their daily lives, but when it comes to the settlement of people; housing scheme plays a great role , in both ways : for living standards and managing urbanization.

The best way to provide enough homes in large cities is to build tall apartment blocks , where different large groups of people can live easily without the excessive need of residential area.

I completely agree with this statement of building tall apartment blocks for living , because through this scheme of providing people space for living at a standard level , helps government maintain an increase in urbanization and provide people with places to live. On the other hand it also allows a better development of the people who starts living in cities , because cities provides grate opportunity to the people who need jobs or are looking forward to develop pr start their business. Also it also helps them to have an access to opportunities which are available in large cities : such as education , healthcare etc.

For example , apartments build near my area (DHA) , here the environment provided is really relaxing to live and maintainance level is also at a great rate. People can easily do their jobs while living in this city.

In conclusion, this is great opportunity for people as well as the government to help grow population at a balanced rate.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position in favor of tall apartment blocks. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. While you mention benefits like urbanization and access to services, the arguments lack depth and specific analysis. For instance, the link between tall buildings and 'maintaining an increase in urbanization' is vague. The example provided regarding DHA is personal but lacks sufficient detail to fully support the argument. To reach a higher band, you should expand on the socio-economic or environmental implications of high-density living rather than repeating general statements about city life.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into an introduction, a body paragraph, and a conclusion, which provides a basic structure. However, the progression of ideas is often repetitive, particularly in the second paragraph where the benefits of city life are restated multiple times. The use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical and occasionally inaccurate, such as the awkward use of 'on the other hand' to introduce a supporting point rather than a contrasting one. Paragraphing is present, but the internal flow within paragraphs could be improved by using more varied linking words to connect ideas logically.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task but remains quite basic and repetitive. Phrases like 'great impact', 'great role', and 'great opportunity' are used frequently, which limits the range of expression. There are also some issues with word choice and collocation, such as 'maintain an increase in urbanization' and 'maintainance level is also at a great rate'. To improve, you should aim to use more precise academic vocabulary and collocations that are specific to urban planning and housing, rather than relying on general-purpose adjectives.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Issues include subject-verb agreement ('cities provides'), incorrect preposition usage, and punctuation errors, such as unnecessary spaces before commas. There are also fragments and run-on sentences that affect the overall fluency. While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of errors prevents the writing from reaching a higher band. Focusing on sentence construction and proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy will be essential for improvement.

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.