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 recent years, the topic of the best way to build certain amount of houses in big cities is to provide tall apartment blocks is increasingly contentious, some argue that it is beneficial and it will be a great way to build homes for majority of people and others contend that it will be too costly and time consuming for the states to fund. This essay will demonstrates both perspectives before arguing that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

On the other hand, proponents of the agreements argue that tall apartments blocks will provide more space for families in need. This is largely preferred on the grounds of being less expensive for the rural individuals. Furthermore, a tall building will provide more apartment at once rather than single homes. Likewise, it will significanty contribute for the bachelors who lives alone for studying or working purpose. For example, most students stays in other cities because of their college or university, it follows the needs of houses for the students.In this case, if a student tries to rent a whole house then it will be too costly and therefore, it will be too complex for them to balance a congenial life.

In addition, critics of disagreement believe that it will bring harm to our environment.One key rationale is that it will cost a lot to build a well constructed tall apartment block, leading to various financial problems. Moreover, it is a time consuming process, which reinforces this arguement. For instance, generally to provide a tall building for the people will need myrid of lands and workers, Money and time will both be needed to build a well accomdation.

In conclusion, albeit both viewpoint have their own merits, I am convinced that the advantages are more practical for the environment. Ultimately, it is crucial that government and individuals should adapt to this perspective in order to fully benefit from its potential.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task and presents a clear position throughout, concluding that the advantages of building tall apartments outweigh the disadvantages. The ideas are generally relevant, though some arguments could be extended further. For instance, the point regarding bachelors and students is introduced but slightly underdeveloped in terms of broader urban planning benefits. Nevertheless, the main tenets of the prompt are covered well. Examples provided from personal and general knowledge help illustrate the points, such as mentioning students renting homes in cities, aligning with Band 6.5 to 7.0 descriptors for task response.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a clear overall progression with a discernible introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate different perspectives. However, cohesive devices are sometimes mechanical or faulty, such as 'On the other hand, proponents of the agreements argue...', which misinterprets the contrasting nature of the paragraphs, and 'In addition, critics of disagreement believe...'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, but the logical organisation remains sufficient to guide the reader through the text without major confusion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'contentious', 'congenial life', and 'myriad'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, including 'demonstrates' instead of 'demonstrate', 'significanty', 'stays' instead of 'stay', 'accomdation', and 'viewpoint' instead of 'viewpoints'. These inaccuracies do not heavily impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to the Band 6 level where vocabulary control shows consistent mechanical flaws.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some command of subordinate clauses (e.g., 'In this case, if a student tries to rent a whole house then it will be too costly...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as 'the topic of the best way to build certain amount of houses in big cities is to provide tall apartment blocks is increasingly contentious', which suffers from grammatical confusion. Punctuation issues and subject-verb agreement errors occur throughout the text, placing it firmly at Band 5.5.

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

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