Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-20

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 population of individuals are rapidly increasing day by day, The best alternative is to provide sufficient homes in those densely populated cities by construction of tall residential blocks. I partially agree with that statement because building blocks have some merits and demerits which are explained below to support my prospective of partially agreement.

To begin with, flats are budget friendly as compare to the owned constructed living space in terms of utility, internet and maintenance of the space. Additionally, tall building contains average of 10 residential flats, so, the neighbors know each other and they socialize in community centers. For instance, every building block has minimum one designated play area for children where kids come everyday in evening to play and unwind themselves from their hectic daily routine.

Apartments are entirely constructed in that way to space should be preserved for another building block, for this reason the space for grassland and plantation is cramped. moreover, the fresh oxygen production would be compromised due to the space issues, and it could be one of the reason for asthma prevalence among the residents of surged buildings. On the other hand, its strenuous for elderly natives to climb stairs everyday if there is no lift facility available in entire building.

From my view, I believe the installment of high rise buildings definitively save the space as well as maintained the budget of hardworking individual whose income is below the average. In contrast, it leads to the several pulmonary health issues like asthma due to the compromised oxygen levels.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the merits and demerits of building tall apartment blocks to solve housing shortages in large cities, presenting a clear position of partial agreement. Ideas are introduced and supported with some relevant examples, such as designated play areas for children and the potential health impacts like asthma. However, some arguments remain somewhat under-developed or general, such as the claim regarding fresh oxygen production and the lack of lift facilities. The response covers all parts of the task adequately, earning a solid Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The text is generally coherent and arranged into logical paragraphs, each with a distinct focus on either advantages or disadvantages. Cohesive devices are employed to link ideas, such as 'To begin with', 'Additionally', 'For instance', and 'On the other hand'. However, referencing and transitions are at times mechanical or slightly awkward, such as 'Apartments are entirely constructed in that way to space should be preserved', which disrupts the smooth flow of information. Paragraphing is used appropriately overall, but internal cohesion could be enhanced. This aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'densely populated', 'budget friendly', 'strenuous', and 'pulmonary health issues'. However, there are noticeable lexical and collocational inaccuracies throughout the text, including 'prospective of partially agreement' instead of 'perspective of partial agreement', 'owned constructed' instead of 'owner-constructed', and 'surged buildings' instead of 'high-rise buildings'. These errors do not impede overall communication, placing the response firmly at Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures. However, grammatical control is inconsistent, resulting in frequent errors in subject-verb agreement ('The population of individuals are rapidly increasing'), article usage ('the installment of high rise buildings'), and prepositional phrases ('as compare to'). Furthermore, awkward phrasings like 'its strenuous for elderly natives' indicate limited control over complex structures. While communication remains clear, the frequency of grammatical errors prevents the response from reaching a higher band, making a Band 5.5 appropriate.

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