Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-23

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)

Constructing large apartments become more common in cities nowadays. Building tall apartment blocks is a more efficient way to address the housing shortage problems in urban areas. I strongly agree with the statement of constructing large vertical blocks to adjust number of people at one place.

The first major benefit is that constructing vertical space allows cities to house thousands of people on a single small piece of land. It also protects the agricultural areas and forests from destruction, which directly aids in the good environment. In an other way, it also helps people with low income to afford a home in well-setteled space. For example, person with less salary can buy an apartment on monthly installments, which reduces his ecomical stress.

However, there are number of drawbacks of constructing such buildings. As it reduces the approach of a natural sunlight, which directly effects human health. Besides this, it also increases the safety risks in large number of stories building. For instance, if a house in this large building catch a fire , it becomes difficult to escape from this place easily as it is crowded by the large number of people and it also risks a number of lives in danger.

In conclusion, tall aprtments offer a strong solution for managing large population growth and also in saving large urban areas to be occupied by the buildings. However, it's not the only solution to solve this problem. A successfull city neends a moderate levels of development to truly meet the housing needs of people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by stating a clear position of strong agreement with the prompt. The writer explores both the benefits of building tall apartment blocks, such as housing thousands of people on small plots of land, protecting agricultural areas, and assisting low-income individuals, as well as the drawbacks, including reduced natural sunlight and safety risks like fires. However, some of these ideas remain slightly under-developed and lack depth. For instance, the point regarding low-income housing could be expanded with more robust reasoning. Nevertheless, the position is maintained throughout, earning a Band 6.5.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from introduction to body paragraphs and a concluding summary. Paragraphing is utilised appropriately, with each body paragraph dedicated to a distinct theme (advantages followed by disadvantages). Cohesive devices are employed, such as 'The first major benefit', 'In an other way', 'However', and 'In conclusion'. However, some referencing and linking phrases are slightly unnatural or inaccurate, such as 'In an other way' and 'In large number of stories building', which places the response firmly in the Band 6 category.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common terms such as 'housing shortage', 'agricultural areas', and 'economical stress' (though economical should be economic). There are some noticeable lexical errors and inaccurate word choices throughout the text, including 'Constructing large apartments become', 'well-setteled space', 'approach of a natural sunlight', and 'aprtments'. Despite these occasional errors and spelling slips, communication is not impeded, making Band 6.0 an appropriate descriptor for lexical resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional and relative clauses, such as 'Building tall apartment blocks is a more efficient way to address...' and '...if a house in this large building catch a fire, it becomes difficult to escape...'. There are several grammatical errors present, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('Constructing large apartments become', 'neends'), article misuse ('a number of stories building'), and verb forms ('catch a fire'). However, these errors rarely impede overall communication, reflecting the characteristics of Band 6.0.

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

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