Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-25

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 most suitable process to provide enough living space to people in urban areas is to build high level apartment blocks. I completely agree to this point because it can accomodate huge amount of people at a single space without occupying larger area.

In urban regions, the space is already so constricted due to infrastructure and high level of population. As compared to village and small town, cities require to save more space because it can help them to build other institutions and industries. Providing a large apparment can assists hundred of people to get accomodatiion at the same building instead of making different small traditional houses.

Large apartments can minimise the shortage of houses and make cities more organized. If there will be tall building there would be less pressure on housing properties. Additionally, government can utilise the rest of space to enhance roads structure. Moreover the rest of land can be invest to make playgrounds which are very benificial for youth to stay healty and strong. For instance, we can consider China they build tall apartments in larger cities all around the country to facilitate a large amount of population.

In conclusion, I believe that it is a very necessary and practical way to develop large aparments in big cities to adress housing issue. It may help to save space for other essential infrastructure including schools, hospitals, parks, industries, and public places.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt directly, taking a clear and consistent stance in agreement with the statement that tall apartment blocks are the best way to provide housing in large cities. The writer supports this position with relevant ideas, such as saving space for infrastructure, reducing housing pressure, and creating areas for public amenities like parks. However, the ideas lack deep extension and development, remaining somewhat general. Furthermore, the response suffers from a critical length penalty, containing only 234 words against the mandatory 250-word minimum requirement. This prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. Overall, the task is addressed, but the under-length nature and limited idea development restrict the score to a band 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a generally coherent overall arrangement and logical progression, divided into an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas. However, cohesion within paragraphs is sometimes mechanical or faulty. For instance, the transition 'If there will be tall building there would be' demonstrates awkward phrasing, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as 'because it can help them to build' where the antecedent is ambiguous. While cohesive devices like 'Additionally', 'Moreover', and 'In conclusion' are employed, their usage lacks sophistication, and the overall progression feels somewhat formulaic. This places the response comfortably at a band 6.0 level.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully attempting less common vocabulary items such as 'infrastructure', 'constricted', 'amenities' (implied), and 'utilise'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and spelling mistakes throughout the text, including 'accomodat' (accommodate), 'apparment' (apartment), 'accomodatiion' (accommodation), 'benificial' (beneficial), 'healty' (healthy), and 'adress' (address). Word choices are sometimes awkward or unnatural, such as 'high level apartment blocks' instead of 'high-rise apartment blocks' and 'land can be invest' instead of 'invested'. These errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and some complex sentence forms, though complex structures are frequently flawed. Examples of grammatical errors include conditional and tense mistakes like 'If there will be tall building there would be' and prepositional errors such as 'at a single space' and 'in the same building'. Subject-verb agreement issues also appear, as seen in 'cities require to save' and 'China they build'. Punctuation and article use are erratic in places. Despite these frequent errors, the meaning remains mostly clear and communication is rarely severely impeded. This profile corresponds to a band 5.0.

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

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