Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

Here we discuse about the apartments in cities.I also agree in cities they bulid up the tall apartments blocks.Beacuse the tall apartments give comfort to eveyone. One major advantage of building tall apartment blocks is that they make better use of limited land. Large cities often have extremely high population densities, and there is usually little vacant land available for new housing. Constructing vertically allows thousands of people to live in a relatively small area. Moreover, high-rise developments can be located close to workplaces, universities and public transport, which can reduce commuting distances and make urban life more convenient. For example, cities such as Singapore have developed high-density residential areas to accommodate their growing populations while making efficient use of land. more affordable than individual houses in densely populated areas. Instead of using large areas of land to build separate homes, developers can construct multiple apartments on the same plot.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The student addresses the prompt by expressing a clear position in favour of building tall apartment blocks in large cities. They provide a relevant argument regarding land use efficiency and commuting convenience, and cite Singapore as an example. However, the response is severely constrained by its length. As noted in the length check, the student's response contains only 150 words, falling well short of the 250-word minimum requirement for Task 2. Consequently, the ideas are under-developed and lack the sustained extension required for higher bands. Due to this significant under-length issue, the task achievement is penalised and placed at Band 4.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The text shows some basic attempts at organisation, utilising cohesive devices such as 'One major advantage', 'Moreover', and 'For example' to link sentences. However, the overall cohesion is compromised by a lack of proper paragraphing—the entire text is presented as a single block of text with an abrupt unfinished sentence at the end ('more affordable than individual houses in densely populated areas'). Progression is difficult to track fully due to the fragmented nature of the conclusion. Based on these limitations, the response aligns best with Band 5.0 descriptors for coherence and cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for basic communication, featuring terms such as 'population densities', 'high-rise developments', and 'residential areas'. However, the range is quite limited, and there are noticeable errors in word choice and spelling, such as 'discuse' instead of 'discuss' and 'bulid up' instead of 'build up'. Furthermore, lexical repetition occurs ('apartments', 'cities', 'land'). These errors and the restricted vocabulary breadth place the lexical resource at Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as relative clauses in 'which can reduce commuting distances'. However, control of grammar and punctuation is weak, with multiple grammatical and mechanical errors throughout the text, including 'Here we discuse about', 'agree in cities they bulid up', and 'Beacuse'. Punctuation and spacing issues are also present, such as missing spaces after periods. Because frequent errors cause some difficulty and prevent fluent reading, this criterion warrants a Band 5.0.

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

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