Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

There is a common understanding that tall apartment buildings are one of the best possible options of residents in a metropolitan cities. I partially agree with this statement because tall appartment are one of the most efficient ways to manage urbanization, but they also have certain drawbacks that can not be overlooked. Following is the explaination of my statement.

First and foremost, tall appartment buildings can assist in limiting urban sprawl. Urban sprawl happens when cities grow horizontally, instead of vertically. With vertical growth, multiple issues arise, such as, poor distribution of utility facitlites like water pipeline, grid infrastructure etc. In closed comunities, the distance from work or entertainment is also less, so people can get there in less time. It can also reduce overall fuel consumption which is good for enviornment. In case of Lahore, Pakistan, the city is expanding in a rapid pace. Since the independence of Pakistan, the city's size has doubled that is causing tons of management issues.

Tall appartments does not always have benifits either. With high-rise appartments, the surrounding areas can get conjusted. High traffic during peak mobility hours can make matter worse since most of the people are living in small spaces. Furthermore, houses have proper ventilation and sunlight but appratments lack this. This can reduce the wellbeing of people living in small spaces because there is less breathing space for them.

In conclusion, I agree that tall apartments are effective way to manage urban cities and there is no better alternative available. Despite all of the benifits, there are some disadvantages associated with them also. In the end, advantages overweigh disadvantages and currently there is no better solution available.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You present a clear position throughout the response, stating that you partially agree with the prompt because high-rise buildings manage urbanisation effectively while presenting certain drawbacks. You address all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages, such as limiting urban sprawl and reducing fuel consumption, and the disadvantages, including congestion and a lack of sunlight. However, some ideas remain under-developed or less fully explored. For instance, the mention of Lahore, Pakistan is relevant and provides a specific real-world example, but it is not fully extended to explain how tall buildings specifically mitigated the issues mentioned. To reach a higher level, you should ensure that all supporting points, such as the impact on human wellbeing and traffic congestion, are backed up with fuller explanations and more detailed examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

Your essay demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear division into logical paragraphs, featuring an introduction, body paragraphs addressing advantages and disadvantages respectively, and a conclusion. You use basic cohesive devices to signal the progression of your argument, such as 'First and foremost', 'Furthermore', and 'In conclusion'. Nevertheless, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty, and referencing is not always completely clear. For example, sentences like 'Following is the explaination of my statement' feel abrupt and formulaic rather than naturally integrated into the flow of your ideas. To improve, try to use a wider variety of cohesive relationships and ensure that transitions between sentences and paragraphs flow more smoothly without relying on repetitive formulas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully attempting less common items related to urban development such as 'urban sprawl', 'infrastructure', and 'metropolitan cities'. However, there are noticeable spelling errors ('appartment', 'appratments', 'explaination', 'benifits', 'conjusted', 'enviornment') and word-choice inaccuracies ('expanding in a rapid pace' instead of 'at a rapid pace', 'overweigh' instead of 'outweigh') that indicate limitations in your lexical control. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they prevent you from achieving a higher score. To elevate your lexical resource, focus on mastering the correct spelling of common academic words and refine your understanding of collocations and prepositional usage with vocabulary related to cities and housing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating the ability to construct compound and complex sentences such as 'Urban sprawl happens when cities grow horizontally, instead of vertically.' There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, including pluralisation and article mistakes like 'tall appartment' instead of 'tall apartments', 'effective way' missing an article ('an effective way'), and subject-verb agreement issues such as 'Tall appartments does not'. Despite these errors, they rarely impede communication and the meaning remains clear throughout the essay. To move up to a higher band for grammar, you should work on eliminating slip-of-the-pen errors in plurals and verb forms, and incorporate a greater variety of error-free complex sentence structures.

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

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