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)

Nowadays a popular way to accomodate growing population in major cities, is to do vertical development, such as, contructing large apartments, and I agree because horizontal development can make it harder for the local governments to manage the city. Instead buildings made in a vertical manner can house more people in a relatively small area.

One of the major reason is that the expansion of cities is causing various hardships for local authorities. When cities expand horizontally they may take up a lot more resources. For instance, Islamabad is becoming increasingly difficult to manage because the city's area grew many folds in order to provide housing to hundreds of thousands of residents. Due to which it is becoming harder to provide water, electricity, and LNG to people living on the outskirts. But it can be solved if the government stops expanding the city, and starts working on building more apartments.

Another reason is adopting a climate friendly development plan, which ensures environment conscious construction is done. Such as, constructing apartments that have built-in infrastructure to support plants and trees that reduce the CO2 levels from our atmosphere. By doing this, governments can also reduce the overall pollution that is caused by building houses. For instance, instead of constructing tens of houses for people to live in, they will just have to build one apartment complex to house those civillians, which means less construction material, and equipment is used.

In conclusion, I believe choosing vertical development is a must for sustainable future, in which goverments can manage cities more effectively and efficiently. This way the residents can also have good living standards, and do not have to worry about things, as basic as water, or electricity.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by presenting a clear position agreeing that tall apartment blocks are the best solution for urban housing, and supports this with relevant arguments regarding resource management and environmental efficiency. Ideas are generally well-extended, such as the example of Islamabad illustrating the difficulties of horizontal city expansion, and the discussion on reduced construction materials. However, some arguments could be explored in greater depth to reach a higher band. For instance, the point about climate-friendly construction mentions built-in infrastructure for plants, but this is not fully explained in terms of how it achieves the housing goal. Nonetheless, the writer maintains a consistent stance throughout, fulfilling the criteria for a Band 7.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay displays a clear overall progression and logical organisation. Each paragraph has a distinct focus, moving from an introduction and stance, to resource management, then environmental benefits, and finally a concise conclusion. Cohesive devices are used effectively, with phrases such as 'One of the major reason is', 'Another reason is', and 'In conclusion' guiding the reader smoothly through the text. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately. While referencing is generally clear, minor mechanical errors in cohesion prevent it from reaching higher bands, such as the fragment 'Due to which it is becoming harder...', which disrupts the flow of the sentence structure slightly. Overall, the structural framework is well managed and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The writer uses an adequate and sufficiently wide range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'vertical development', 'horizontal development', 'outskirts', and 'sustainable future'. There are, however, some spelling and word-choice errors that indicate a lack of precision, such as 'accomodate' (accommodate), 'contructing' (constructing), and 'civillians' (civilians). Furthermore, 'One of the major reason is' contains a basic pluralisation error. Despite these occasional slips, the vocabulary used is functional, conveys the intended meaning clearly, and does not impede communication, placing the performance firmly in the Band 6 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilising relative clauses and conditional structures, such as 'When cities expand horizontally they may take up a lot more resources' and 'By doing this, governments can also reduce the overall pollution...'. There are several grammatical errors present, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'One of the major reason is' and punctuation slips, such as unnecessary commas in 'Nowadays a popular way to accomodate growing population in major cities, is to do vertical development'. Sentence fragments also occur, notably 'Due to which it is becoming harder...', which connects a dependent clause incorrectly. Although errors are noticeable, they rarely impede communication, reflecting the descriptors for Band 6.

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