Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-19

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)

The construction of tall apartment blocks is an effective way to provide an adequate shelter to people in large cities. I agree with this statement to an average extent.

One of the major reasons for my agreement with this statement could be increased population. Large cities are becoming overly crowded. As a result, there is less land for building big houses. People are moving from urban areas to the cities to avail better life facilities however, they face many issues to find accomodation. For instance, one of my aunt has moved from a village to our city, and she hunted for a house for quite long time. Nevertheless, she ended up buying an apartment in a building.

So, tall buildings provide enough shelter to a large population. As a result, more people can live in large cities and enjoy the same facilities.

However, I disagree with this statement. In general, people like to live in spacious houses because of the peaceful environment. Tall buildings with apartment blocks give me suffocation. I feel like I am prisoned in a square of four walls. For example, when I started college and moved to another city, the only problem I faced was living in a building. But, for some reasons, I had to deal with it for two years.

To conclude, I would say tall buildings with apartment blocks are best for overly crowded cities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing whether tall apartment blocks are the best solution for housing in large cities, and a position is presented, albeit somewhat contradictory ("I agree with this statement to an average extent" followed by both agreeing and disagreeing). Ideas are supported with personal examples, such as an aunt who bought an apartment and the author's own college experience living in a building. However, the development remains somewhat limited and superficial. Crucially, the length requirement of 250 words was not met, as the student's response contains only 232 words. This under-length shortfall directly impacts task fulfillment, resulting in a Band 5.5 score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay displays a generally coherent overall arrangement, with basic attempts to link ideas using cohesive devices like "As a result", "Nevertheless", and "To conclude". Paragraphing is utilized, though some paragraphs are quite brief and fragmented, separating connected thoughts awkwardly. Referencing is generally clear, but the logical progression suffers because the writer abruptly shifts from arguing in favor of tall blocks to arguing against them without a smooth transitional structure. While overall cohesion is acceptable for a lower-intermediate level, the mechanical nature of the linking devices and erratic paragraph structure place this firmly in the Band 6 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, allowing the student to communicate basic ideas about housing and urban life. There are attempts at less common phrasing such as "adequate shelter", "overly crowded", and "spacious houses". However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward collocations, such as "avail better life facilities" (instead of 'access better living facilities'), "hunted for a house" (informal), and "give me suffocation" (unnatural collocation). Spelling is generally accurate, but the limited range of vocabulary and frequent word-choice awkwardness reflect the descriptors for Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing structures like conditional clauses and relative clauses. There are several grammatical errors and awkward structures throughout the text, such as "one of my aunt has moved" (subject-verb agreement error and pluralisation issue), "for quite long time" (missing article), and "I feel like I am prisoned in a square of four walls" (awkward passive formation). Punctuation is generally functional. Because simple sentences are controlled quite well, but attempts at complex structures introduce frequent errors that occasionally strain comprehension, a score of 5.5 is appropriate.

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

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