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)
It is often considered that the best way to provide enough houses in urban areas is to construct apartment blocks. I completely agree with this approach because it can provide citizens with more availability of places to live in large cities along with better opportunities for employment and education.
One of the positive effects that building tall apartment blocks offer is convenient migration for employment and education. People from various areas including from both rural and urban areas prefer to migrate to new bigger cities for new opportunities and experience. If there is enough housing in those cities, it will make easier for people to settle in new places and seek new opportunities. Consequently, building tall apartment blocks could be a beneficial idea for local as well as international residents.
Furthermore, when there is tall apartment blocks instead of many smaller houses in a city, it will occupy less area. So, the remaining areas could be use by state authorities to construct other building essential for hospital, office, industry, markets and shops. Additionally, a large number of people living in a same apartment can increase communication between them. This can ultimately help to build brotherhood and team activities even in the urban society.
In conclusion, I completely agree that constructing tall apartment blocks facilitate people who are planning to migrate to large cities for better opportunities for their career and education by providing enough homes to live.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The response addresses the prompt by clearly stating a position agreeing with the statement, supporting it with ideas regarding urban migration, space-saving for essential infrastructure, and community building. However, the response has a minor negative impact on task achievement due to being under-length, containing only 237 words against the required 250-word minimum. Because of this length penalty, the ideas cannot be fully extended or supported to reach higher bands. Phrases like 'build brotherhood and team activities' remain somewhat under-developed. Thus, it fits well within Band 5.5 to 6.0 territory, leaning towards a 5.5 due to the length restriction.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and a brief conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate main ideas, such as migration in paragraph two and space-saving in paragraph three. However, cohesion is at times faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition 'when there is tall apartment blocks' contains grammatical errors that disrupt the flow, and referencing pronouns like 'them' in 'increase communication between them' lacks precision. Overall, the logical progression is clear enough to satisfy Band 6 descriptors.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common phrases like 'urban migration', 'state authorities', and 'international residents'. However, there are noticeable word-choice and collocation errors throughout the text, such as 'provide citizens with more availability of places to live' instead of 'housing availability', and 'when there is tall apartment blocks' (plural/singular mismatch). Spelling and word formation are generally acceptable, but inaccuracies keep the lexical score capped at a Band 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional clauses ('If there is enough housing in those cities, it will make easier...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement and article usage, such as 'when there is tall apartment blocks' and 'it will make easier' (missing object 'it'). Punctuation is generally acceptable, but frequent errors in basic grammar structures cause occasional difficulty and prevent the essay from reaching a higher band score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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