Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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)

Large cities are usually home to most of the public and many people from villages also move there in search of jobs or employment. To accomodate such amount, cities should have enough homes available which are usually provided with different strategical moves. One of those moves is building tall apartments so that large number of people can be accomodated over a single plot.

Tall apartment blocks can be the best way in several different ways such as they help up in healthy community build up. People living in such blocks are usually more connect with their neighbours because they often have multiple homes in the same floor which helps in better interconnect. For example, I have been living in apartments since my childhood and whenever we face any issue like service outage, fire or shortage of any food item we are helped by our neighbours and vice versa.

They can also be environmental friendly if planned and designed accordingly. If we have to accomodate all the people in a single floor house then we will needing a much bigger number of plots which can only be vacant by deforestation or destroying natural habitats of animals. Furthermore, such scenarios have also led to global warming and climate change which are curently one of the biggest threats to our environment.

In conclusion, for the government to accomodate the growing number of population in the large cities they have to come up with different strategial moves one of which is establishing societial blocks with tall apartments.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing whether tall apartment blocks are the best way to provide enough homes in large cities, taking a clear supportive stance. The student presents relevant ideas, such as community building and environmental protection by preventing deforestation, and supports them with a personal example. However, the development of ideas tends to be slightly superficial and could be extended further with deeper analysis or broader examples to reach higher bands. Nevertheless, all parts of the task are addressed and a consistent position is maintained throughout, fitting the criteria for a Band 6.5.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs focusing on separate arguments (community and environment), and a brief conclusion. Paragraphing is utilised appropriately to separate ideas. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Furthermore' and 'In conclusion', though referencing and transitions can occasionally feel a bit mechanical or simplistic (e.g., 'One of those moves is...'). Logical progression is maintained from the opening premise to the final summary, satisfying the requirements for a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting less common items such as 'strategical moves', 'environmental friendly', and 'deforestation'. However, there are multiple word-choice and collocation errors, such as 'accommodate such amount' instead of 'such an amount', 'healthy community build up' instead of 'community building', and 'curently' (spelling error). While these vocabulary and spelling mistakes do not impede overall communication, they prevent the lexical score from reaching the next band, placing this firmly at a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and conditional structures (e.g., 'If we have to accommodate...'). However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, including spelling mistakes ('accomodate', 'strategical', 'societial', 'curently'), missing articles ('on the same floor'), and preposition usage ('connect with' instead of 'connected with'). Despite these frequent minor errors and awkward phrasings, the meaning generally remains clear and does not impede the reader's understanding, aligning well with the Band 6.0 descriptors.

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

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