Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

It is most often argued that the best strategy to provide residence to people in large cities is to construct tall apartment blocks. I strongly agree with the viewpoint, largely because of smart planning and green spaces. This essay will discuss the main reasons for advocating this view.

One primary reason is that there is an urgent need of shifting our approach to smart cities. More specifically, overpopulation accounts for the crowded cities. A huge number of people are moving towards cities for better opportunities, hence getting unavoidable day-by-day.

Instead of expanding the cities, an efficient way is to make tall buildings for housing, thus leaving free space to cope with other public amenities (transport system, sports arenas, educational institutes, and hospitals). For instance, Islamabad is the best illustration of this, where most of the population are moved there for education and profession, requiring only apartments.

Furthermore, rapid urbanization is making people prone to health-related problems. This is largely because of deforestation caused by growing housing schemes, harming the natural environment, thus affecting the urban quality of life. As people living in cities already have sedentery lifestyle, on top of that degradation of natural environment is worsening the situation further. For example, nowadays, more people are suffering from respiratory health problems than ever before.

In conclusion, I firmly advocate the viewpoint, that shifting homes into tall apartment blocks is the most effective way to cope with overpopulation, largely because of the smart cities and green spaces, improving quality of life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the task and presents a clear, consistent position throughout, agreeing with the statement that tall apartment blocks are the best way to provide housing. Key ideas, such as smart city planning, preserving green spaces, and mitigating environmental degradation, are introduced and supported with examples like Islamabad and respiratory health issues. However, some arguments lack full extension and suffer from minor lapses in clarity, such as the phrase 'hence getting unavoidable day-by-day.' Overall, all parts of the prompt are covered, earning a solid Band 6.5 to 7.0 for fulfilling the main requirements of Task Response with relevant ideas and a clear standpoint.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay displays a clear overall progression and logical organisation. Each paragraph has a distinct focus, moving from an introduction and stance to smart planning, environmental impacts, and a concluding summary. Cohesive devices are employed reasonably well, with transitional phrases like 'One primary reason', 'Furthermore', and 'In conclusion' guiding the reader through the text. However, referencing is occasionally imprecise, and some sentences feel slightly disjointed or mechanically linked, such as 'thus getting unavoidable day-by-day.' Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate main ideas, aligning well with the Band 6.0 descriptors for logical flow and functional, if sometimes basic, cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'urbanization', 'deforestation', 'amenities', and 'sedentary' (though misspelled as 'sedentery'). While there are occasional inaccuracies in word choice and collocation—such as 'getting unavoidable day-by-day'—communication is never impeded. The vocabulary allows the writer to convey reasonably complex ideas about urban planning and health. Spelling errors are limited, but they prevent the response from achieving a higher band. These characteristics fit comfortably within the Band 6.0 descriptor for lexical resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating relative clauses and participial phrases successfully, as seen in 'Instead of expanding the cities, an efficient way is to make tall buildings for housing, thus leaving free space...'. There are, however, several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as 'an urgent need of shifting', 'population are moved there', and the spelling slip 'sedentery'. Despite these errors, the majority of simple sentences are accurate, and the mistakes rarely impede overall communication or comprehension. This performance aligns well with the standard for Band 6.0.

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

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