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)

Building tall apartments blocks is the best alternative for enough houses in big cities. As million of people shift from rural area to metropolitan area to persue their dream, education and for better future, finding affordable house has become a critical challenge. I fully agree that high rise building are highely effective for maximizing urban space, i belived they must be combined with other strategies to fully resolve the housing storage.

On the one hand, having high rise buildings in overcrowded urban center saves valuable land. Furthermore, high-density housing can provide shelter for thousand of residents within a small space for much more affordable price. In addition, it also help to preserve the environment form distruction as it cover around 10 to 20 small house in one building by which it can be used to construct park, school and hospital.

On the other hand, designing, building, and mantining apartments requires advance engineering, expensive material. Additionally, elevators and safety system required extra money for it. Moreever, living with thousand of people feels like isolated, lack of privacy. Also, tall appartment face greater dangers during high emergencies like fires, earthquake and many more.

In conculison, the idea of building tall appartment is best way to provide affordable housing. However, i believed that due to high cost for designing and mantining safety, government should priortize sustinable development, such as high-speed public transist, providing good education.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing whether tall apartment blocks are the best way to provide enough homes in large cities, presenting a clear position agreeing with the statement while acknowledging that other strategies are needed. However, the task achievement is constrained by two major factors. First, the text falls short of the required 250-word minimum, containing only 232 words, which triggers a penalty under IELTS rules. Second, while the main ideas regarding land preservation and urban congestion are relevant, they remain somewhat under-developed and are impacted by over-generalizations and hasty conclusions. The introduction and conclusion contain slight contradictions regarding whether tall buildings alone are the best solution or if they must be combined with other measures. To reach a higher band, the student needs to fully develop each body paragraph with more detailed explanations and ensure the word count requirement is consistently met.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay displays a generally clear overall organisation with a traditional four-paragraph structure comprising an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate contrasting views, with 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand' signalling shifts in perspective. However, cohesion at the sentence level is occasionally faulty and mechanical. For example, transition phrases are sometimes linked awkwardly, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the use of 'it' without a precise antecedent in phrases like 'by which it can be used'. Furthermore, logical progression within paragraphs is disrupted by abrupt transitions between points (e.g., jumping from safety systems to feelings of isolation). Conjunctions and cohesive ties need to be deployed more flexibly and accurately to achieve a Band 6.5 or higher.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms such as 'metropolitan area', 'high-density housing', and 'sustainable development'. However, there are numerous spelling, morphological, and word-choice errors throughout the text that reveal limitations in lexical control. Examples include 'apartments blocks' instead of 'apartment blocks', 'million of people' instead of 'millions of people', 'persue' instead of 'pursue', 'highely' instead of 'highly', 'house' instead of 'housing', 'distruction' instead of 'destruction', 'mantining' instead of 'maintaining', 'advance engineering' instead of 'advanced engineering', 'Moreever', 'appartment', and 'conculison'. Although these errors do not completely impede communication, their frequency prevents the response from achieving a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt at structures like subordinate clauses ('As million of people shift...'). However, grammatical accuracy is weak, featuring frequent errors in subject-verb agreement, plurals, and word forms. For instance, the student writes 'high rise building are highely effective' (plural/singular mismatch and missing article), 'house has become' instead of 'housing has become', 'thousand of residents' instead of 'thousands of residents', and 'elevators and safety system required' instead of 'systems require'. Punctuation is also erratic in places, particularly around introductory clauses and lists. While complex structures are attempted, they are frequently faulty, placing this response firmly in the Band 5 category for grammar.

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