Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-28

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)

Writing task-2

Nowadays, many large cities have a growing population so finding enough homes become a serious challenge. Some people believe that building tall apartment blocks is the best solution. I tend to agree with this statement discuss in next two paragraphs along with logical conclusion.

To commence with, some people believe that building tall apartment blocks is the best solution because effective use of land. In large cities extremely land is often limited and expensive and its very hard to buy. In contrast, constructing houses across large areas, developers can't build, buy a apartment for families provide house, hundreds of families. Moreover, high rise apartment provide a security and other facilities, without going outside. For example, a survey was conducted by government of India where 70% population believe that build tall apartment for people is best solution for people and government. As a result, this can help reduce the housing storage and allow more people to live near their workplace and schools,

On the other hand, there are do also some disadvantage to build too many tall buildings. A large number of people living in a one areas put pressure on water, public transport and electricity. Furthermore, the tall apartment provide a small amount of place. Some families facing issue to adjust small areas. whereas, sometimes due to large amount of people living one tall building it break cruses and more pollution. For instance, a research in Newyork city revealed that 60% citizens believe that build tall buildings is not the effective solution. Therefore, cities should also build houses and smaller apartment building in suitable areas.

In conclusion, I agree that tall apartment blocks are effective way to provide enough homes in large cities because they save land and can accommodate to many people. However, government should use a mixture of different type of houses to meet the needs tall residents.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing the extent of agreement regarding tall apartment blocks. A clear position is established in the introduction and maintained throughout the essay. Main ideas are presented, such as land scarcity and infrastructure pressure, and supported with explanations and examples. However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or repetitive, and parts of the argumentation rely on unsupported statistical generalisations, such as the referenced surveys. The conclusion briefly reiterates the stance, though the phrasing 'tall residents' contains a slight lexical slip. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, fitting the Band 6 descriptors where all parts are covered with relevant, albeit somewhat limited and generalised, ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay is organised into four paragraphs, providing a logical framework with an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Transitional phrases such as 'To commence with', 'In contrast', and 'On the other hand' are employed to guide the reader through the structure. However, referencing and cohesive ties are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the sentence 'I tend to agree with this statement discuss in next two paragraphs' disrupts smooth progression. Furthermore, pronoun referencing and transitions within paragraphs can be awkward, as seen in 'constructing houses across large areas, developers can't build, buy a apartment for families provide house, hundreds of families.' Paragraphing is used appropriately, but cohesion requires more natural management to achieve a higher band.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting less common lexical items such as 'infrastructure', 'scarcity', and 'accommodation'. However, there are numerous word choice, collocation, and word-formation errors throughout the text, including 'housing storage' instead of 'housing shortage', 'small amount of place' instead of 'limited space', and 'break cruses' which impedes clarity. Spelling and morphological issues also occur frequently, such as 'Newyork' and 'apartment building' instead of 'apartment buildings'. While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey basic meaning and attempts less common phrasing, the density of errors prevents the score from reaching Band 6.0 fully, though a 5.0 reflects the minimally adequate range combined with noticeable lexical inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional and subordinate clauses. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. Examples include missing verbs ('finding enough homes become'), incorrect prepositions or articles ('in a one areas'), and awkward syntactic arrangements ('Some families facing issue to adjust small areas'). Simple sentences are generally controlled better than complex attempts, which often become tangled or incomplete. Punctuation is basic, with run-on phrasing and misplaced commas. These persistent errors place the grammar firmly in the Band 5 category, where frequent errors remain present despite the attempt at a varied range.

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