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)

With increased urbanization, it is crucial that every citizen has access to equal oppurtunities. This topic explores that in order to have adequate housing facilities in developed cities, it is essential to build apartments.

I tend to completely agree with this viewpoint due to the fact that apartments tend to cater a considerable proportion of individuals and families.An economically developed city promotes a better lifestyle and work opportunities. To fulfill increasing demands of the living conditions, construction of flats is a better approach. This helps to stack homes in a vertical fashion. By building it upwards more space can be utilized.

In recent times, apartment communities are being promoted as it allows more options in terms of living space and size. People with different housing requirements and financial backgrounds can still live together in the same area. For example, in cities like Dubai, Mumbai and Karachi offer options like single bedroom, multiple bedroom, pent-houses in the same building which cater to various needs of the people. Moreover, amenities are better kept like provision of a swimming pool, play area, walking path, park, gym etc. A centralized management takes care of all the facilities and building upkeep which otherwise is costly and time consuming.

The downside to this form of housing style is the lack of ownership of property on a land. Majority of the people who tend to buy real estate prefer to have it on land as it is a physical asset. The land is not transferable rather just the apartment. The limitation of exercising a joint family system is limited as number of rooms in an apartment are not sufficient enough. Privacy is another issue faced as the feeling of sitting in a private lawn is not the same as sitting in a balcony. The access to private car porch is also not possible as apartments have a common parking area with a designated parking.

A prosperous city invites more people to start living and work for a better future. But the benefits can only be access if the opportunities are distributed and available to all.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task and establishes a clear position agreeing with the prompt. Relevant ideas are presented, such as how tall apartment blocks efficiently utilise vertical space and accommodate diverse communities with shared amenities like swimming pools and parks. However, some ideas are under-developed or less focused. For instance, the introduction diverges slightly into discussing urbanisation and equal opportunities rather than focusing squarely on housing. Furthermore, the counter-argument regarding the lack of land ownership and privacy is introduced but not fully explored or rebutted to strengthen the overall argument. The main points are present and understandable, fulfilling the requirements for this level, but greater depth and clearer extension of supporting examples would be needed to push the task response further.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a logical progression of ideas from introduction to supporting paragraphs and a counter-argument. Paragraphing is used to separate main points, such as the benefits of apartments in the second and third paragraphs and the drawbacks in the fourth. However, cohesion at times feels mechanical or faulty. Certain cohesive devices are repetitive or awkward, such as starting multiple sentences with 'This' or 'To', and referencing is not always completely clear. For example, the sentence beginning with 'The land is not transferable rather just the apartment' lacks smooth transitional ties. Additionally, some paragraph boundaries and transitions between ideas could be managed more skilfully to ensure a more natural flow throughout the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'urbanization', 'economically developed', 'centralized management', and 'physical asset'. However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and word form that prevent a higher score. For instance, the phrase 'cater a considerable proportion' is misused, as 'cater' typically requires the preposition 'to'. There is also a spelling error in the opening paragraph ('oppurtunities') and minor lexical slips such as 'limitations of exercising a joint family system is limited'. Despite these errors, the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning without impeding overall communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating structures such as conditional ideas, relative clauses, and introductory participial phrases ('With increased urbanization', 'By building it upwards'). There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, but they rarely impede communication. Examples of grammatical lapses include subject-verb agreement issues, such as 'cities like Dubai, Mumbai and Karachi offer' where the sentence structure breaks down, and prepositional errors like 'on a land' instead of 'on land'. Punctuation errors are also present, such as a missing space and punctuation slip in 'families.An economically developed city'. While complex structures are attempted, they sometimes contain minor inaccuracies, which places the grammatical control firmly within this band.

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