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)
The debate of making homes or appartments in larger cities is increasing day by day because population is increasing by the time.Apartments are the best choice instead of making homes in larger cities.But it depends because every family have its own preference to live.
In this era,the demand of apartments in building is gradually increasing in context of investment and living.Every married person want to live with his own family in this modern era. These types of people do not want to live in large family which includes their brothers,sisters and nephhews etc.The other reason is that there are too many expenses nowadays.No one want to bear the expenses of large family.If we talk about investment, everyone want to invest in apartments rathar than homes. One reason is that apartments have healthy return on investment than homes.Another reason is that mostly appartments are available on installment but the ratio of buying homes on installments are too low. That s why people prefer to buy apartments instead of homes.
In larger cities, families are small. They feel comfortable living in apartments because they can maintain their expenses in context of electricity,water supply etc. Most of the facilities are available in the apartments. But if anyone is living in home, he has to go to market to buy daily use things.On the other hand,mostly aged people cannot live in small covered area. But the ratio of such types of peope is low.
In conclusion, i think living in apartments are more valueable than homes because every facility is available in apartments.Nowadays, most of the people are young and they adjust themselves in apartments.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt regarding whether building tall apartment blocks is the best way to provide enough homes in large cities. The writer takes a clear stance supporting apartments over traditional houses, citing reasons such as investment returns, lower maintenance, and family size trends. However, the development of ideas tends to be somewhat superficial and relies on broad generalizations, such as the claim that every married person wants to live away from extended families. While all parts of the prompt are addressed, the arguments would benefit from greater depth and closer focus on urban planning and housing density rather than purely personal and family dynamics. This places the response comfortably at Band 6.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used to separate different ideas, such as financial reasons in the second paragraph and lifestyle factors in the third. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty. For instance, the transition between sentences can feel abrupt, and referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen with phrases like 'The other reason is...' repeated without smooth transitions. Furthermore, spacing and punctuation errors around commas and periods affect the flow of the text. Overall progression is present, but organizational control aligns with Band 5.5 to 6.0 descriptors.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items related to real estate and finance, such as 'return on investment' and 'installment'. However, there are numerous spelling errors ('appartments', 'rathar', 'valueable', 'peope') and awkward word choices ('making homes' instead of 'building houses'). The repetition of basic words like 'homes', 'apartments', and 'cities' limits lexical flexibility. While communication is not severely impeded, the frequency of lexical inaccuracies and spelling slips keeps the score at Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some attempts at subordination and conditional structures ('If we talk about investment...', 'If anyone is living in home...'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak. There are frequent errors in subject-verb agreement ('every family have', 'everyone want', 'living in apartments are'), missing articles ('living in home', 'to market'), and preposition usage. Punctuation is also problematic, with spaces frequently missing after commas. These errors require the reader to occasionally decode the intended meaning, matching the Band 5.0 descriptors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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