Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-14

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 many large cities, the population is increasing rapidly, which has created a serious problem for additional housing. Some people believe that the best way to solve this problem is to construct tall apartment blocks. I completely agree with this view because high-rise buildings make efficient use of limited land and allow a large number of people to live close to essential services.

The main reason why building tall apartment buildings is a good idea is because city area has low available lands. Furthermore, building house for each individual family requires more land. In contrast, building tall apartments can make use of limited lands and provide a large amount of people and family to live in the same building making it more convenient.

Another advantage of building tall apartments is that the people will be concentrated in a single region more due to which governement can provide services such as transportation, health, education, security, etc more easily and efficiently. Moreover, It will also help people to get daily requirements more easily as services will be nearby and completely reachable. For instance, apartment complexes built near train station can allow thousand of residents to commute without relying heavily on private vehicles.

In conclusion, I strongly agree that the best approach to provide sufficient housing in large cities is to build tall apartment complexes. This helps both governement and residents to give and take services. It makes best use of scarce land and make things less complicated. Thus, building large apartments can play a major role in providing sufficient housing specially in large city areas.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task, presenting a clear position throughout in agreement with the prompt. The writer introduces relevant ideas regarding land efficiency, service concentration, and urban convenience. These ideas are extended and supported with explanations and examples, such as mentioning apartment complexes built near train stations to assist commuting. While some of the supporting points in the second paragraph are slightly repetitive and could be elaborated further with greater depth, the overall stance is well maintained and meets the requirements for Band 6.5, leaning towards Band 7 given the clear development of ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from introduction to body paragraphs and conclusion. Each paragraph has a distinct focus, such as land efficiency in the second paragraph and service concentration in the third. Cohesive devices like 'Furthermore', 'In contrast', 'Another advantage', and 'Moreover' are used to connect ideas, although some connections feel slightly mechanical. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately throughout the response, ensuring that the reader can easily follow the progression of arguments. Referencing is generally clear, resulting in a solid performance for Coherence and Cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'efficient use', 'essential services', and 'concentrated in a single region'. However, there are some noticeable inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'city area has low available lands' instead of 'land availability in cities is low', and spelling/grammatical slips like 'governement'. Despite these minor errors, communication is never impeded, and the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended arguments effectively, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptor.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures reasonably well (e.g., 'In many large cities, the population is increasing rapidly, which has created a serious problem...'). There are several errors in grammar and punctuation, including missing articles ('building house for each individual family', 'near train station'), pluralisation errors ('thousand of residents'), and occasional capitalization/comma slips. However, these errors rarely impede communication, and the fundamental sentence structures remain under control, justifying a Band 6 score.

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