Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-17

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 5.0)

The rapid growth of urban population has create the shortage of housing in many large cities. Due to the rapid growth of population their is the shortage of housing in many big cities so that someone make the idea to build tall apartment blocks to utilized the space of living and cover the shortage of housing in the cities

The advantage of build tall apartment blocks is the utilization of land for hundrads of peoples this will be benifical for the people who cannot afford the houses for living in big cities. The efficient use of land is to build the tall apartment blocks due to this their is the different advantages less use of land the cost of houses in land is high while the apartment block cost is less so this is the another advantage.

Urban population growth increase rapidly and with this the land for living and build house is to much expensive. The best use of land and cost cutting of house is to build tall apartment blocks due to this people lives happily and the cost of living will also reduce and it will growth the economy as well.

In the conclusion the best way to provide large numbers of homes in large cities is to build tall apartment blocks this is cheaper then land houses and also it will create the blance between every type of person.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The student addresses the prompt by discussing the advantages of building tall apartment blocks to solve urban housing shortages, taking a general position in agreement with the statement. However, the response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 250 words, stopping at 233 words, which directly impacts the depth and extension of ideas. Arguments regarding land utilization, cost reduction, and economic growth are introduced but remain repetitive and under-developed, lacking specific examples or thorough elaboration. For instance, the point regarding cost is repeated multiple times without deep exploration of potential drawbacks or nuances of high-rise living. Consequently, the task is addressed only partially, warranting a Band 5.0 for Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay displays some basic organization with an introduction, supporting body paragraphs, and a brief conclusion. However, overall progression is hindered by heavy repetition and a lack of clear cohesive devices. Sentences are frequently strung together with coordinating conjunctions like 'and' or 'so' rather than managed with sophisticated referencing or substitution. Paragraphing is attempted, but internal paragraph cohesion is weak due to overlapping and circular arguments, such as repeating the land cost issue across multiple paragraphs. While the text is generally readable, the mechanical and repetitive nature of the transitions prevents the response from reaching a higher band, aligning best with Band 5.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is basic, repetitive, and restricted to everyday terms such as 'housing', 'big cities', 'people', and 'cost'. There are numerous word choice and collocation issues, such as 'have create', 'someone make the idea', and 'land houses'. Attempts to use less common or academic vocabulary are largely unsuccessful due to severe errors in form and spelling, such as 'benifical', 'hundrads', 'blance', and 'growth' used as a verb. Although the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the basic topic of urban housing, noticeable errors cause difficulty for the reader and restrict the score to Band 4.5, rounded to 5.0 based on positive marking for communicative intent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The text relies heavily on simple and compound structures, often linked incorrectly or run together as comma splices or run-on sentences (e.g., 'Due to the rapid growth of population their is the shortage of housing in many big cities so that someone make the idea to build tall apartment blocks...'). There are frequent and systematic errors in basic grammar, including subject-verb agreement ('their is the shortage', 'population increase rapidly'), article usage, verb tenses, and pluralization ('hundrads of peoples'). Complex structures are rarely attempted accurately. These pervasive errors frequently strain the reader and reflect the descriptors for Band 4.0.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.