Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-30

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)

With this era of modernisation and industrialization, it is becoming extremely difficult for row hoses to suffice in large cities. This is becoming a concernig topic as this is not only affecting the citizens but is also creating effects on the industrial and architectural sectors. I largely agree that building tall apartments can provide better homes for people who live in metro cities.

In past few years, the population is seeming increasing and that is one of the major reasons of this. The people believe that looking for an apartment is becoming a challange, with every passing day. As the population has increased, accomodation is also affected due to that. Recently a friend of mine shifted to mumbai, where she went for apartment hunting for three days but she did not get a single apartment where she could have a single accomodation. Every broker she interacted with was oly able to provide her with sharing apartments.

Another major reason, is how heavily the rents are in metro cities. Even if someone gets hold of a row house apartment it is usually too costly which ultimately leads it to be unaffordable. Therefore, a person would prefer an apartment over the row houses as they are affordable and it is easier to find such places. Pollution can also be decreased by switching to building huge apartments, as the area occupied by them are smaller when compared to the other setting.

Nevertheless, the people nowdays are more leaned towards having an apartment as it is more affordable and is more convenient when compared to row houses.for example if a student lives in a metro city and looks for an apartment, their preference will be that the apartment has multiple rooms , which will help them distribute the rents and it will eventually be more affordable.

In conclusion, the large cities do need tall apartments for better accomodation and for the affordability. This is not only favourable to the citizens but ultimately have beneficial effects on pollution too. Therefore, the shift to taller apartments in metro cities must be made as much as possible

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The candidate addresses all parts of the task and expresses a clear position throughout, stating that they largely agree with building tall apartments in large cities. Main ideas such as population growth, rental costs, and pollution are presented and supported with personal examples, such as the mention of a friend's experience apartment hunting in Mumbai. However, some arguments tend to be slightly repetitive, particularly around affordability, and the example regarding students sharing rooms could be extended further to fully explore the prompt. Despite these minor limitations in idea development, the response successfully addresses the core prompt and maintains a consistent stance, corresponding well to the requirements of Band 6.5 or a solid Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. Paragraphing is utilised to separate distinct points, such as population trends and rental costs. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty. Phrases such as 'In past few years' and 'Another major reason, is how heavily the rents are' demonstrate awkward transitions and punctuation errors, including a missing capitalisation and extra spacing. Referencing can also be slightly unclear, and cohesive devices are not always used with flexibility. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion requires smoother transitions between sentences to reach a higher band. Overall, the organizational structure meets the criteria for Band 6.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The candidate uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'industrialization', 'archaeological sectors' (meant architectural), and 'unaffordable'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'row hoses' instead of 'houses', 'concernig' for 'concerning', 'challange' for 'challenge', 'accomodation' instead of accommodation, and 'oly' for 'only'. Additionally, phrases like 'how heavily the rents are' show awkward lexical collocation. While the meaning is generally clear, these recurring errors place the lexical resource firmly within the Band 5.5 to 6 range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures such as conditional and relative clauses ('where she went for apartment hunting'). However, there are frequent grammatical and punctuation errors, including missing articles ('In past few years', 'in metro cities'), subject-verb agreement issues ('the population is seeming increasing'), and faulty preposition usage ('effects on the industrial and architectural sectors'). Punctuation errors are also present, such as a lowercase letter starting a sentence ('for example if a student'). These errors occasionally cause slight difficulty for the reader, but communication is not impeded. This performance aligns with a Band 5.5, rounded to 6.0.

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