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)

It is argued that the most suitable way of providing enough homes in bigger cities is by building appartment flats in tall form of buildings. I totally agree with this statement as it will help in preventing cities to grow more in size.Moreover, cities will be well functioned in this form of housing scheme.

Firstly,cities are growing in area more and more as the inhabitants of urban cities need more space for living. So the suggestion of providing houses to public in tall houses in form of appartments have many positive outcomes , like cities can be compelled to expand more and occupy extra area. For example in Singapore, mostly appartment buildings are encourged to build and subsidized in some way from government so more population should be adjusted in lesser area.

Secondly, these organized appartment buildings provide a easy way of managing for adminstrative bodies. Different security and necessary facilities can be easily overlooked properly in lesser expanded areas. For instance, according to a surve, families living appartemnts houses feel more safe than the the residents of open societies. Families in these bigger buildings also share a sense of community with eachother and living together this lifestyle also provides a growing and healthy environment for their childerns. However, the construction of these taller buildings should not be compromised in any way , otherwise it can have negative outcomes in case of natural disasters.

In conclusion, there are numerous advantages of these sort of housing schemes that includes lesser land occupied by resdential houses along with a well managed way of living for families.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the prompt by stating a clear position of agreement regarding tall apartment blocks as the best solution for urban housing. Main ideas are presented and supported with examples, such as referencing Singapore to illustrate how vertical building preserves land area. The arguments are generally relevant, covering urban expansion control and administrative management. However, some ideas lack deep extension and contain logical contradictions, such as writing that cities can be 'compelled to expand more' when the intention was clearly the opposite—to prevent urban sprawl. This minor slip in expressing the core idea prevents the response from reaching Band 7. Nonetheless, the task is addressed adequately with a clear stance and supporting examples, warranting a solid Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a recognisable introduction, distinct body paragraphs, and a concluding sentence. Progression is attempted using transitional markers like 'Firstly,' and 'Secondly,'. However, cohesion is often faulty or mechanical, and paragraphing is somewhat problematic; for instance, the second body paragraph contains a mixture of disparate ideas ranging from administrative management to safety surveys and natural disaster warnings, which disrupts the logical flow. Additionally, referencing and logical transitions are occasionally unclear, such as the sudden shift introduced by 'However' regarding natural disasters. These limitations in cohesive management and paragraph unity place this response firmly at Band 5.5.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms such as 'urban cities', 'inhabitants', 'subsidized', and 'administrative bodies'. There are, however, frequent spelling errors ('appartment', 'appertemnts', 'encoureged', 'adminstrative', 'surve', 'resdential') and word-choice inaccuracies, such as 'tall form of buildings' instead of 'high-rise buildings' and 'open societies' instead of 'suburbs' or 'detached houses'. While these errors do not impede overall communication, they are noticeable and detract from precision. Because the vocabulary range is minimally adequate and contains persistent spelling and form errors, the lexical resource fits the Band 5.5 descriptor profile.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilising subordinate clauses and relative structures like 'families living appartemnts houses feel more safe than the the residents'. Grammatical control is inconsistent, with frequent errors in prepositions ('in form of', 'living in these bigger buildings'), articles ('a easy way', 'the the residents'), and punctuation spacing. Furthermore, awkward phrasing and structural awkwardness appear in sentences like 'this lifestyle also provides a growing and healthy environment for their childerns' (where 'childerns' is also a morphological error). While communication is generally maintained despite these flaws, the high frequency of basic grammatical and mechanical errors prevents the score from reaching Band 6.0, making a 5.5 a fair reflection.

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