Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-16

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 housing is the main problem, some people beleive that constructing tall building apartments is the most effective solution. While i partly agree with this beacause buildings can accomodate more people in the same area of land than houses.

Some cities have limited space so bulding vertically instead of horizontally can save much more land for example, Dubai has succesfuly solved thier housing problems Providing water ,Electricity, Gas and other basic needs to the biulding can be much more easier for the government than different houses. Another reason is population growth , while the population is increasing day by day it is easier to provide homes to hundreds of families on one plot. Furthermore apartments can be built quickly to meet urgent housing demands.

However, there are also some drawbacks for instance, living in buildings can also have privacy issues because it is more crowded than houses which can lead so many people to mental health issuse, Moreover so many people cannot live into dark places without balconies and green spaces which can cause anxiety and depression issues. Families with children prefer houses with gardens and open ares so that thier childs can have different activities instead of wasting thier times in using mobile phones.Another option is to renovate and modernize old buildings instead of building new ones.

In conclusion, while constructing tall buildings have so many advantages to save the space and for the ease of governments, They should be a part of housing stratigies. A combination of tall biuldings and houses will be benificial for the societies growth.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by presenting a clear position on whether tall apartment blocks are the best way to provide housing. The writer considers both advantages, such as saving space and easier municipal service delivery, and drawbacks, including privacy issues, lack of green spaces, and potential negative impacts on mental health. While the ideas are relevant, some points are somewhat under-developed, and the opening sentence is an incomplete fragment ('While i partly agree with this beacause...'). The conclusion provides a reasonable summary of the writer's stance. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, placing this response at Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, separating the introduction, body arguments, and conclusion. However, cohesion at the sentence level is occasionally faulty or mechanical. For instance, the first paragraph lacks a complete main clause in the second sentence due to a dangling subordinate structure. Cohesive devices are sometimes over-used or inappropriately linked, such as using 'Moreover so many people...' without proper punctuation. Referencing and logical progression are generally maintained throughout, but punctuation errors hinder smoother transitions, aligning with the Band 6 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common lexical items such as 'population growth', 'modernize', and 'municipal services'. However, there are frequent spelling mistakes ('beleive', 'accomodate', 'bulding', 'succesfuly', 'thier', 'biulding', 'issuse', 'stratigies', 'benificial') and word-form errors ('childs' instead of 'children'). These spelling errors are noticeable and detract from the quality of the writing, though they do not seriously impede overall communication. These features are characteristic of Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some capability with subordinate clauses. However, there is a lack of control over basic sentence boundaries, leading to run-on sentences and fragments (e.g., 'While i partly agree with this beacause buildings can accomodate...'). Punctuation is frequently neglected, with missing commas after introductory phrases and incorrect capitalization ('i', 'Dubai'). While some complex structures are attempted, the high frequency of grammatical and punctuation errors can cause minor difficulty for the reader, placing this criterion at Band 5.5.

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