Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-02
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)
nowadays, many large cities are facing a shortage of housing because their populations are increasing rapidly. Some people believe that building tall apartment blocks is the best solution to this problem. I partly agree with this view because high-rise buildings can provide more homes, but they can also create some problems.
On the one hand, there are several points of best way to provide enough homes in large cities. Firstly tall apartment buildings are an effective way to use limited land. In large cities, land is often experience and there is not enough space to construct seperate houses for everyone. By building upwards, hundreds of families can live in one buildings. This can also reduce the need to expend cities into rural areas. for example, in cities such as Mumbai and Delhi, many people live apartment buildings because the is limited land available for housing.
on the other hand, building only tall apartments may not be the perfect solution. A large number of high-rise buildings can put pressure on public services such as roads, schools ,hospitals and public transport. in addition, some people
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 4.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5
The response addresses the task only partially and fails to meet the minimum length requirement of 250 words, stopping abruptly at 183 words due to being incomplete. While the student attempts to present a position by stating they 'partly agree' and touches upon relevant ideas such as land scarcity and public service pressure, these ideas are limited and underdeveloped. For example, the second body paragraph cuts off mid-sentence, leaving the argument regarding infrastructure unfulfilled. To achieve a higher band, the writer must fully develop all parts of the prompt with extended, well-supported arguments and ensure the essay reaches the required word count.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
There is some basic organization with an introduction, a clear stance, and transitional markers like 'On the one hand' and 'Firstly', but the text lacks an overall progression because it is unfinished. Cohesive devices are used, but some are inaccurate, such as 'several points of best way', which disrupts the logical flow. Paragraphing is attempted, but the final paragraph is incomplete. To improve cohesion, the writer should ensure that referencing is precise, transitional phrases are used naturally, and ideas are logically developed to a natural conclusion across fully formed paragraphs.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used provides a minimally adequate range for the task, but noticeable errors occur throughout the text. There are issues with word choice and word forms, such as 'land is often experience' instead of 'expensive', 'seperate' instead of 'separate' (spelling), 'one buildings' (pluralization error), and 'expend cities' instead of 'expand'. These inaccuracies occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. To reach a higher band, the student needs to expand their lexical repertoire with less common items, improve control over collocations, and eliminate basic spelling and word-choice errors.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer demonstrates a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences with occasional attempts at complex forms that are sometimes faulty. Frequent errors appear in articles, punctuation, and capitalization, such as lowercase beginnings for sentences ('nowadays', 'on the other hand', 'in addition'), missing commas, and agreement issues like 'live apartment buildings' and 'the is limited land'. These errors reflect a restricted control of grammar and punctuation at this level. To progress, the writer should incorporate a wider variety of complex structures while improving basic grammatical accuracy and punctuation control.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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