Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-29

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)

Creating tall buildings in big cities is the best way to provide enough homes to people, I largely disagree because of the problems that can happen between neighbours, and also people are vulnerable to die if the building burned out or an earthquake happened.

In the one hand, making a lot of people live at the same building going to make a big problems between the neighbours, because some times people who lives in the highest appartments are not going to get the amount of water needed and electricity, for example, in Algeria a lot of people who live in tall buildings make fights between each other because of the need of water. Also tours and big tall buildings need a big amount of concrete and this can affect the whole environement of the city because of the carbon emissions.

In the other hand, people that lives at the same tour are more vulnerable to die from of the risk of fire and earthquale, because it is hard to escape from tall buildings especially people that lives at the highest apartements, so they are going to find themselves dying in stairs, and the urgency going to find it hard to save the life of all of them, for instance, in the earthquake at Turkie, many people that lives in tall buildings die, while people that lives in small buildings did not.

To conclude, i disagree with creating tall buildings to provide homes to large amount of people, because they are going to be vulnerable to risk and also this will affect the environement.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the prompt by stating a clear position of disagreement with the statement. The ideas presented, such as interpersonal conflicts over resources and safety concerns regarding fires and earthquakes, are relevant to the topic. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited and relies on sweeping generalisations and anecdotal references, such as the mention of Algeria and Turkey, without deeper elaboration. While a clear stance is maintained throughout the response, the arguments lack the extended depth and nuanced support typically required for higher band levels. Therefore, the response aligns best with Band 5.5 to 6.0 descriptors, specifically demonstrating a relevant position with basic elaboration. A score of 6.0 is awarded as all parts of the task are addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, including an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. However, cohesion at the sentence level is frequently faulty or mechanical. The student uses cohesive phrases like "In the one hand" (which contains a grammatical error, intended as 'On the one hand') and "In the other hand", which disrupts natural flow. Referencing is sometimes unclear, and logical progression within paragraphs is hindered by run-on sentences and repetitive structures. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct points, but the overarching management of cohesive devices prevents the response from achieving a higher band score. This performance corresponds well to the Band 5.0 descriptors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating everyday ideas related to housing, cities, and natural disasters. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and inappropriate word choices, such as "tours" instead of 'towers', "burned out" instead of 'caught fire', and "urgency" instead of 'emergency services' or 'rescue teams'. Spelling errors like "environement" and "Turkie" also occur. While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the core message, these recurring inaccuracies and limited control over less common lexical items restrict the score to a Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar is weak. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ("people who lives"), incorrect prepositions ("live at the same building", "die from of the risk"), and run-on sentences joined by commas rather than proper conjunctions or full stops. For instance, the opening sentence is a comma splice connecting multiple independent clauses. Although meaning is generally conveyed despite these errors, the high frequency of inaccurate complex structures prevents the essay from reaching Band 6.0, placing it firmly at Band 5.0.

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

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