Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-13

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)

People used to migrates from small cities to big cities for growth and opputunities. But coming from a comfortable lifestyle to struggle to achieve dreams and sucess which raise many barriers like language, making new friends and most important accomodation like housing. Nowadays the housing is the main issue in the big cities. As people are moving into big cities the higher amount of land is used and the cost of rent is also increased because of high demand and less availability. The best way to provide enough homes in large cities is to build tall apartment blocks, as this will be a better option for those who migrates from miles and have no friends and family in the same cities.

In my opinion this is a reliable option from financial and ecological prespective. As the tall apartament will provide the more flats for the people, this results in less land consumption and will benefit the ecosystem. Whereas people will get the space for living. From a business prespective the builder or the home onwer will get the more profit if the sell or rent the house. Nowadays the new tend is saying the taller the building the bettwer the view and the new generation like the aesthetic of the tall building so, the will be more attractive for new generation people.

On the otherhand, tall building blocks have alot of safety and construction issues like quality of building material so, our government should assess everything very carefully before giving the permission for rent or sell as it is the question of someone's life. Similarly older people have problem in using lifts and stairs due to their health issues so, in tall building houses it is a major problem.

In concludion, the large cities have shortage of land and houses and building a tall apartment blocks can be positive option but it should be build under very strict terms and conditions and considering all age groups people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, taking a clear stance on whether tall apartment blocks are the best solution for housing shortages in large cities. The student provides relevant ideas supporting this view, mentioning financial, ecological, and generational perspectives, while also acknowledging counterarguments such as construction safety and accessibility for older people. However, some ideas are underdeveloped and the position sometimes lacks deep extension. For instance, the discussion on ecological benefits and business perspectives remains quite surface-level. There is also a tendency to overgeneralise without offering concrete examples. Overall, the response meets the criteria for Band 6.0, as it addresses all parts of the task with relevant, albeit somewhat basic and underdeveloped, ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a recognisable introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different aspects of the argument, such as the advantages of tall buildings in the second paragraph and the challenges in the third. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. The writer uses basic cohesive devices like 'Nowadays', 'In my opinion', 'On the otherhand', and 'In concludion'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, and the logical progression between sentences within paragraphs stumbles at times, particularly in the introduction where the opening sentences run together without clear transitional links. Despite these mechanical flaws, the overall organization is clear enough to earn a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task and attempts some less common items such as 'ecological prespective', 'land consumption', and 'aesthetic'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'migrates' instead of 'migrate', 'opputunities' instead of 'opportunities', 'sucess' instead of 'success', 'accomodation' instead of 'accommodation', 'apartament' instead of 'apartment', 'onwer' instead of 'owner', 'tend' instead of 'trend', and 'concludion' instead of 'conclusion'. While these errors do not severely impede communication because the context is generally clear, their frequency prevents the score from reaching Band 6.5. The lexical control aligns solidly with Band 5.5 to 6.0 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms. The writer attempts complex structures using dependent clauses, such as 'As people are moving into big cities the higher amount of land is used...' and '...the tall apartament will provide the more flats for the people, this results in less land consumption...'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in articles, pluralisation, verb forms, and punctuation. Examples include 'which raise many barriers', 'the housing is the main issue', 'the higher amount of land', 'older people have problem', and comma splices connecting independent clauses. These errors occasionally cause slight difficulty for the reader, fitting the Band 5.0 descriptor well where attempts at complex sentences are often faulty and errors are frequent.

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