Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-03

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 4.5)

Apartment blocks for residence is the optimized approach in mega cities. With time more people moved to big cities for better job oppertunity , to enjoy the city lifestyle and access to best medical facilities the cities have to offer. Resulting a flood of population and massive load on the major cities infrastructure.

To accomodate the growing population it was necessary to solve the housing problem fast and cheaper. Building homes for each family was no longer feasible. The soluiton was tall apartment buildings that were faster to build and easier to maintain.

In conclusion, every problem has a soluiton and to solving the population problem

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

The response suffers from a major issue with task length, containing only 106 words, which falls significantly short of the 250-word minimum requirement. Because of this severe under-length, the response responds to the task only minimally. The writer attempts to express a view on whether tall apartment blocks are the best way to provide homes in large cities, touching briefly on urbanization and the need for fast, cheap housing solutions. However, the ideas remain extremely basic, underdeveloped, and truncated. To move towards a higher band, the writer must fully develop a clear position with extended, well-supported arguments and meet the minimum word count required for the task.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is some basic organization present, with an attempt to separate the introduction, body, and an unfinished conclusion. However, the response lacks clear overall progression and logical structure due to its abrupt ending in the concluding paragraph, where the sentence cuts off entirely ("and to solving the population problem"). Cohesive devices are minimal and basic, and the relationship between ideas is sometimes disjointed, such as the fragment "Resulting a flood of population". Paragraphing is attempted but lacks the structure needed for a complete essay. To improve, the writer needs to ensure ideas are fully connected with appropriate cohesive devices and structure a complete, cohesive argument from introduction to conclusion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The lexical resource is limited and minimally adequate for expressing basic thoughts. The student attempts some less common vocabulary such as "optimized approach" and "infrastructure", but these are offset by noticeable spelling errors ("oppertunity", "accomodate", "soluiton") and word choice slips, such as starting a sentence with "Resulting a flood". These errors and the restricted range reflect a basic vocabulary profile that strains the reader at times. To achieve a higher band, the student should expand their range of vocabulary, improve spelling accuracy, and use less common lexical items with greater precision and stylistic awareness.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The grammatical structures used are very limited, relying heavily on simple sentences and basic combinations. When the writer attempts more complex formulations, errors occur, such as sentence fragments and missing subjects or auxiliary verbs (e.g., "Resulting a flood of population and massive load on the major cities infrastructure"). Frequent errors are present in punctuation and phrasing, which can cause some difficulty for the reader. To progress to a higher band, the writer needs to demonstrate a greater variety of complex sentence structures while maintaining good control over grammar, punctuation, and basic agreement rules.

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

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