Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-12

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 this ever-changing era, establishing large buildings is the best way to facilitate people with enough accomodation in big cities. Although it has many positive sides, I will totaly disagree with this. In my opinion, cities will become congested and crowded, there will be lack of green places with increasing urbanisation, and people will have to live in small flats with different families that will disturb their personal lives.

The major downside of this development is that urban areas have become occupied. There is also a surge in pollution such as air and noise polllution. For exapme, people use private vehicles to commute within different areas of the city because it is convenient for them and saves time. As a result, the area become polluted because of different harmful radicals that are released from fuel.

Moreover, government cut trees and spoil agricultural land to build apartments that disturb natural ecosystem. Public have no green areas to walk and spend time in nature. Besides that, it also disturbs the natural habitats of animals and causes biodiversity.

On the other hand, there is a lack of privacy in these flats because people from different regions live together in small places and share many things. So, it becomes difficult for them to maintain personal and professional life in these congested houses.

In conclusion, there are more downsides than benefits of this revolution. Urban areas have become packed and polluted with a significant increase in private automobiles. In addition, there are no natural places for public to take breath in the fresh air and it has destroyed the biodiversity and agricultural land.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the task by taking a clear position ('I will totally disagree with this') and providing arguments regarding congestion, pollution, loss of green spaces, and privacy issues. The position is maintained throughout the response, and the ideas are supported with reasoning, such as the mention of private vehicles causing pollution and trees being cut down for urbanisation. However, some arguments tend to over-generalise and lack fully developed examples, as seen in the brief mention of for example regarding private vehicles. The overall response fulfils the requirements of Band 6 well, as it addresses the prompt directly with relevant ideas, though further elaboration on specific examples would elevate the score further.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate main ideas, such as environmental impacts versus privacy concerns. Cohesive devices are employed to signal transitions, using linking words like 'Although', 'Moreover', 'Besides that', and 'On the other hand'. However, referencing and cohesion can sometimes feel mechanical or slightly repetitive, and paragraph transitions lack seamless progression in places. For instance, the paragraph starting with 'The major downside of this development' jumps into pollution without tightly linking back to the previous sentence. Despite these minor issues, the logical organisation is clear and easy to follow, fitting comfortably within the Band 6 descriptor.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms such as 'urbanisation', 'ecosystem', 'biodiversity', and 'congestion'. There are, however, several noticeable spelling errors ('accomodation', 'totaly', 'polllution', 'Exapme') and word choice inaccuracies ('harmful radicals', 'government cut trees' instead of 'cutting down trees'). While these errors are present, they do not impede communication, and the writer makes successful attempts at less common vocabulary. This performance reflects the Band 6 descriptor, where the vocabulary is minimally sufficient for the task despite recurrent spelling slips.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, using concessive clauses ('Although it has many positive sides...') and conditional or relative clauses effectively. There are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasing instances throughout the text, such as 'facilitate people with enough accomodation' (instead of 'provide people with enough accommodation'), 'the area become polluted' (subject-verb agreement error), and 'causes biodiversity' (incomplete collocation or phrasing). Punctuation and article usage also show occasional lapses. Nevertheless, these errors rarely impede communication and the meaning remains clear throughout, aligning well with the Band 6 criteria for grammatical range and accuracy.

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

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