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)

As the population of the cities around the globe is increasing day by day because of the urbanization trend it is becoming difficult for the managements to facilitate everyone, because when the population of an area exceeds it's holding capabilities, it starts to decline slowly and it's resources also start to deplete which will lead to the destruction of that particular area in sometime.

I personally prefer this idea beacause the most common and important issue faced by all the major cities around the world is that they cannot accomadate all the new coming people in the city effectively and efficiently.Providing one or two stage buildings to all the coming people is a waste of the resources of the city, because the same land if used to build tall multistage buildings and then used to provide apartments and flats to the new coming people is the most efficient way to overcome the residence problems of the citizens. This solution is best suited to this problem because this method would save a lot of land which could be used for many purposes which would actually benefit the country and the earth overall. This saved land could be used for agriculture or for the plantation of trees which would very beneficial because in today's modern world there is shortage of land for agriculture and for the planting of trees due to massive urbanization trend overall.

Without such a planning the managements would be unable to fit all the residents effectively.

For example all the modern and developed cities like New York and Shanghai have adapted this particular method which is known as vertical development in some areas, and i actually love this plan because it saves huge sums of agricultural lands and forests which are a crucial part of the ecosystem and without them the life can't be imagined.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by taking a clear personal position ('I personally prefer this idea') and supporting it with relevant arguments regarding land preservation and efficient urban planning. Ideas are extended, particularly regarding the benefits of vertical development for agriculture and environmental conservation. However, the development tends to be somewhat repetitive, looping back to the idea of saving land multiple times without introducing new main dimensions of the argument. While the position is clear throughout, the progression of ideas would benefit from greater variation and tighter focus to reach higher band levels. Nevertheless, the main task requirements are met effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement and logical progression, but it suffers significantly from a lack of proper punctuation and paragraphing. The main body of the essay is essentially written as one massive, unbroken block of text, which places an unnecessary burden on the reader. While transitional phrases like 'For example' and 'Because' are used to connect ideas, the absence of full stops and clear paragraph breaks severely limits the flow and management of cohesion. Referencing is generally clear, but the lack of structured paragraphing prevents the response from achieving a higher band score.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'urbanization trend', 'holding capabilities', 'vertical development', and 'ecosystem'. However, there are notable spelling errors ('accomadate' instead of 'accommodate', 'beacause') and awkward word choices ('new coming people' instead of 'newcomers' or 'incoming residents', 'one or two stage buildings' instead of 'low-rise buildings'). These errors do not impede communication, but they highlight limitations in precision and word formation that place the response firmly in the band 6 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some ambition in sentence structure. However, the writing is heavily characterised by long, run-on sentences connected by coordinating conjunctions or relative clauses without adequate punctuation (e.g., '...deplete which will lead to the destruction of that particular area in sometime.'). There is a notable absence of full stops, commas, and capitalisation in appropriate places (e.g., lowercase 'i' used for the pronoun). While some error-free clauses exist, the frequent punctuation and run-on sentence errors cause noticeable difficulty for the reader and reflect inconsistent control over grammar and mechanics.

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