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)

Over population has become a major conern in metropolitan cities. It is widely suggested that to overcome the problem of housing shortage, it is necessary to construct multi-storey residential units. This essay is firmly in the favour of this notion for several compelling reasons.

A key justification for this stance is that substantially increasing population in major cities has raised numerous challenges for authorities. Large numbers of people are migrating from rural to urban areas in search of better employment, healthcare and educational opportinities. That is why traffic congestion and dense commuting have become prevelant. It is becoming difficult for people to accommodate in spacious houses because there is not enough land available. The only possible solution to this problem is that government should make stragtegies to give housing to the local residents. For example, establishing apartmental buildings can provide resident to large number of individuals.

Another pivotal factor is that it is not affordable for every citizen to purchase his own house in a developed city because the cost of living is quite high. In many developed countries, people prefer to live in apartments by paying reasonable rents. The major advantage is that people do noy have to worry about the renovations or other responsibilities. Moreover, apartments are much safer to live because its upon to owners to provide security for these residential buildings. For instance, everyone prioritize to live in a peaceful and safe residential area that is exactly provided by the apartments.

In conclusion, i would say although there are several demerits of living in building blocks, still its advantages overweigh them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the task by taking a clear position that they firmly agree with building tall apartment blocks to solve housing shortages in metropolitan cities. The response presents relevant ideas, such as rural-urban migration, affordability, and safety. However, some arguments lack full development and tend to over-generalise. For instance, the mention of safety and security in apartments is introduced but not deeply extended with a fully robust example. Furthermore, the final conclusion introduces a slight contradiction by mentioning 'demerits of living in building blocks' which were not clearly discussed in the body paragraphs. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, placing this response at Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, with each body paragraph focusing on a specific sub-topic (urban challenges and affordability/safety). However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or faulty, as seen with phrases like 'That is why' and 'The major advantage is that people do noy have to worry'. Additionally, referencing is occasionally imprecise, and logical progression between sentences could be smoother. These issues place the response comfortably within the Band 6.0 descriptor range for cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'metropolitan cities', 'traffic congestion', and 'cost of living'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'conern' instead of concern, 'opportinities' instead of opportunities, 'prevelant' instead of prevalent, 'stragtegies' instead of strategies, 'apartmental buildings' instead of apartment blocks, and 'resident' instead of residence. These lexical errors do not impede communication, but they prevent the score from reaching a higher band, making Band 6.0 an accurate reflection of the writer's lexical control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at subordination and relative clauses, such as 'It is widely suggested that to overcome the problem of housing shortage, it is necessary to construct multi-storey residential units.' There are several grammatical and mechanical errors present, including punctuation slips such as lowercase 'i' in the conclusion ('i would say'), subject-verb agreement issues like 'advantages overweigh them', and awkward phrasings like 'because its upon to owners'. Despite these errors, the structures used do not impede communication, allowing the essay to achieve a solid Band 6.0 for grammar.

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