Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

World population has been steadily increasing over the last few decades. Such an increase in population all across the world is a point of concern for many thinkers and there is a great debate going around the horizontal vs vertical scaling of the housing facilities. Here vertical scaling means building tall apartment/flat buildings and horizontal means more spread housing societies. Having lived in a city primarily based on horizontal scaling, I personally believe that each city has it's own requirements but tall apartments might be a better option for most large cities. The following essay bellow elucidates the reasons for my stance on this topic.

Vertical Scaling generally occupies far less space compared to it's horizontal counterpart as housing units are stacked over each other compared to seperate ones for each buyer. In majority of the metropolitan cities of the world, resedential areas are scarce. Especially, in not so well planned huge cities around the world like Karachi in Pakistan and Mumbai in India, there is only so much place for new resedential development after so much encroachment and illegal development. Considering the space constraints, the best plan for these cities is said to build all the newer resedential and even commercial areas in a vertical fashion especially for providing housing to the common masses. Some people even are of the opinion to destroy the old wider illegal housing developments and rebuild them in this fashion.

On the other hand, one of the strongest concern of the people who are against it is the very nature of tall apartmental complexes i.e it fosters a less communal and social environment. I have personally observed that in a housing society type of place, people have more social interaction and there is more engagement among neighbors compared to apartmental residencies where life seems more mechanistic and of "each for their own" nature .

In conclusion, I believe tall apartmental building compared to horizontal development is a subjective debate depending upon the city under discussion but mostly for large cities I believe tall apartmental blocks are the better option considering the space requirements, the future growth of population and consequent residence requirements.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing the prompt regarding tall apartment blocks versus horizontal housing and provides a clear personal position. The introduction introduces the topic well, and both body paragraphs present relevant arguments—highlighting space constraints in megacities on one hand and the loss of a communal environment on the other. However, some ideas could be further extended and supported with deeper analysis rather than brief assertions. For instance, the mention of Karachi and Mumbai is a good touch, but it remains somewhat generalized. Overall, the writer maintains a clear stance throughout and covers the required aspects of the prompt satisfactorily, earning a solid Band 6.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a logical progression from introduction to body paragraphs and a concluding summary. Paragraphing is used appropriately, with each paragraph focusing on a distinct sub-topic. Cohesive devices are employed to connect ideas, such as 'On the other hand,' 'In conclusion,' and 'The following essay bellow,' although referencing and transitional links are occasionally mechanical or slightly awkward (e.g., 'it's horizontal counterpart' and 'such an increase'). Paragraph transitions are generally clear, but the logical flow between sentences could be smoothed out in places to achieve higher band levels. This performance comfortably aligns with the Band 6.5 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms such as 'metropolitan cities,' 'resedential areas' (though misspelled), 'space constraints,' and 'horizontal vs vertical scaling.' Less common items are attempted, which shows an ambition to use flexible phrasing. However, there are noticeable spelling errors ('bellow' instead of below, 'resedential' instead of residential, 'seperate' instead of separate, 'concern' instead of concerns) and minor collocation slips ('tall apartmental complexes'). These errors do not impede communication, as the reader can easily follow the meaning, but they prevent the writing from achieving a higher lexical score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating the ability to structure compound and complex sentences effectively (e.g., 'Having lived in a city primarily based on horizontal scaling, I personally believe...'). There are, however, several grammatical and punctuation errors sprinkled throughout the text. These include punctuation issues with possessive determiners ('it's own requirements' instead of its) and agreement errors ('one of the strongest concern' instead of concerns). While these errors occur with some frequency, the majority of simple sentences are accurate, and the grammatical flaws rarely impede overall comprehension, placing this response firmly in the Band 6 category.

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

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