Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-01

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)

Constructing tall apartment blocks could really help in providing enough homes in urban areas. Meanwhile, i agree to certain extent because there might be some negative impacts also, while building tall apartment it can really cause a trouble in the nearby areas or some individuals might get disturb.

Firstly, there might be several advantages of constructing tall buildings in a urban area, it could provides many apartments blocks in a single building. For instance, nowadays due to rising population its hard to find a house or apartment in cities for renting or for a living. However, in recent years the cost of living has increased rapidly its not even possible to buy a house these days. Meanwhile, apartments blocks are easier to find and they are well planned constructed, so the buyer won't face any issue related to a new house

On the other hand, there are few negative impacts of constructing a tall building, it will create pollution and disturb the others. For example, for constructing a apartment, the development authorities need a place and permission to construct a building. Apart from this, they will use agriculture land or some historical buildlings for construction, whereas construction a nearby main road could lead to a heavy traffic in the area. However, this can cause problems mainly to the farmers or the locals which lead to a significant disadvantage.

In conclusion, it might provide enough homes and support the average earning family to find a place for a living, whereas there some negative aspects like destruction of a historical building, removing the agriculture land, disturbing the locals. Meanwhile, to overcome this problems the government need to take initiate in this for a proper planed appartments so nobody could faced the problems.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the task partially, as required for this level. The candidate manages to present a position and touches upon both the advantages and disadvantages of building tall apartment blocks, as seen in points about providing more homes versus causing pollution and traffic. However, the ideas remain quite limited and under-developed throughout the essay. For instance, the mention of using 'agriculture land or some historical buildlings' is introduced briefly without sufficient explanation or specific examples to extend the argument. To move to a higher band, the writer would need to fully develop their main ideas by providing more detailed reasoning and clearer examples to support each point made.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates some organisation, with an introduction, distinct body paragraphs, and a conclusion, which gives it a coherent overall arrangement. However, there is no clear overall progression of ideas, as transitions between sentences and paragraphs can feel abrupt or repetitive. Basic cohesive devices are used, such as 'Firstly', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion', but they are sometimes applied mechanically or inaccurately, as seen with the repetitive use of 'meanwhile' to link contrasting thoughts. Furthermore, referencing is occasionally unclear, leaving the reader to guess what pronouns like 'this' refer to. To improve, the writer needs to ensure a smoother logical flow between paragraphs and use a wider, more natural variety of cohesive devices.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate for the task. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'development authorities' and 'significant disadvantage', but these attempts are accompanied by noticeable errors in word choice, collocation, and word form, including phrases like 'planed appartments' and 'historical buildlings'. Additionally, spelling and morphological errors occur frequently throughout the text, such as 'i' instead of 'I' and 'disturb' instead of 'disturbed'. These lexical shortcomings occasionally cause some difficulty for the reader. To achieve a higher score, the writer must expand their vocabulary range and pay much closer attention to accurate word forms, spelling, and natural collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer demonstrates a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simpler sentence patterns alongside attempts at complex sentences that are frequently faulty. There are persistent errors in grammar and punctuation throughout the text, including issues with verb forms and tenses, subject-verb agreement, and missing or incorrect articles, as observed in phrases like 'its hard to find a house' and 'construction a nearby main road'. These frequent errors can cause difficulty for the reader and obscure the intended meaning. To progress, the writer needs to incorporate a wider variety of complex sentence structures while maintaining much tighter control over basic grammatical accuracy and punctuation.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.