Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-15

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)

It is often argued by some people that to provide a proper home to citizens in megacities, the best way is to give them apartments in tall buildings. Although some people might disagree with this statement, I completely agree. Not only because tall buildings cover a small area for residences compared with separate homes, leaving extra land we can use for agriculture and entertainment facilities, but also because they provide space for children's playgrounds.

There are multiple benefits associated with giving homes the shape of apartments. Firstly, the land can be used for crops, which is a leading benefit of this development. As extra land is needed to provide enough food to a large population in the country. Take an example of Japan, there is of country is limited, so providing food and home to people of there country, there government made an initiative in terms to build tall buildings to give proper home for every person and remain land use for agriculture. Thus, it is proven that this development is beneficial for people.

Secondly, using land for entertainment purposes is another major benefit of this development. As people feel happy and less stressed when they visit any type of entertainment place. For instance, in Brazil, it is expected that by the year 2035, they will have extra land to build entertainment facilities in the country, mainly because of recently their officials made an decition to build tall buildings for accommodation. Hence, building a vertical building for accommodation is indeed beneficial.

Finally, develop children playground on the extra land is another advantage of this development. As for a healthy young generation, it is essential to provide proper opportunity to childrens.

To sum up, I believe vertical buildings to provide enough homes is beneficial. Not only because leaving extra land we can use for agriculture and entertainment facilities, but also because they provide space for children's playgrounds.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt directly, taking a clear and fully developed position agreeing that tall apartment blocks are the best way to provide housing. The introduction outlines main points, such as land preservation for agriculture and entertainment. Each body paragraph explores a distinct supporting idea: freeing up space for crops, providing land for entertainment facilities, and creating children's playgrounds. However, the development of these ideas suffers from imprecise examples and slight over-generalizations, particularly in the Japan and Brazil examples where the factual support feels slightly forced. Despite these minor limitations, the main position is sustained and the task is adequately covered throughout the essay, aligning closely with the requirements for a Band 6.5 or 7.0 range. On balance, the main ideas are relevant and supported, earning a solid Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion, alongside identifiable body paragraphs. Basic cohesive markers are employed to guide the reader, such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'Finally'. However, referencing and cohesion are at times mechanical or faulty. For instance, the transition 'As extra land is needed...' uses dependent clauses incorrectly as standalone sentences, which disrupts the logical flow. Paragraphing is used, but the final body paragraph about playgrounds is extremely brief and under-developed, consisting of only a single sentence fragment. While the logical progression can generally be followed, the structural and cohesive lapses prevent the essay from achieving a higher band, placing it comfortably at Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common collocations and topic-specific terms like 'megacities', 'agriculture', and 'accommodation'. However, there are notable lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices throughout the text. Examples include 'giving homes the shape of apartments', 'there is of country is limited', and 'make an decition'. Furthermore, spelling errors such as 'decition' and grammatical word-formation issues like 'develop children playground' detract from precision. While communication is not severely impeded, these recurring errors and the repetitive use of phrases like 'this development' indicate that the lexical range is somewhat limited, corresponding to a Band 5.5 descriptor.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing introductory subordinate clauses such as 'Although some people might disagree...'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors occurring in almost every sentence. There are issues with sentence fragments ('As for a healthy young generation...'), subject-verb agreement ('people of there country, there government made'), and prepositional use. Additionally, punctuation and article usage are frequently flawed. While the reader can still grasp the intended meaning, the high density of structural errors and lack of error-free complex sentences mean the grammar falls squarely into the Band 5.0 category.

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

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