Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-04

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)

There is an ongoing debate over whether the best way to provide homes in metropolis is to erect tall buildings. This essay will agree with the given statement since overpopulated cities need tall apartment blocks that would occupy small spaces compared to many small houses.

A primary reason to advocate for this position is preserving spaces for other essential builings. In contemporary times, lots of spaces are needed to providing essential services such as hospitals and grocery stores. As an example, in many metropolises local authorities are building residential accomodation for students near the campus of their university. As a result, lots of spaces are saved constructing tall buildings rather than fragmented houses.

On the other hand, if policy makers decided to divide homes in a fragmented way, this action would lead to a reduction of spaces, occupying even areas addressed to primary need faciliites. This solution would lead to a general collapse of the urban areas and an increase in homeless people. For instance, many years ago in Milan a construction of some residential houses led to moving out people belonging to that zone beacuse they could not to afford the rent of that buildings. As a consequence, constructing many houses is not the best way to manage people's homes.

To conclude, although residential houses could be, in some way, a reasonal way to provide homes for wealthy people, I am firmly convinced that it is not the best way at all because it would lead to occupying spaces that could be utilized for essential services and it would lead to increasing the number of homeless people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear stance agreeing with the statement, but the development of ideas remains limited and under-developed. While the writer attempts to provide supporting points—such as saving space for essential services like hospitals and grocery stores—these arguments lack sufficient depth and concrete, well-elaborated examples. For instance, the reference to student accommodation in metropolises is mentioned briefly without fully exploring how tall blocks directly solve the housing crisis compared to other urban planning strategies. The counter-argument regarding Milan lacks a clear connection to the central theme, resulting in some confusion regarding how fragmented housing impacts the broader urban landscape. To achieve a higher band, the response needs to extend its supporting ideas with deeper analysis and more precise, relevant examples that fully flesh out the argument from introduction to conclusion.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays some overall organization, with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a concluding summary. However, the logical progression within and between paragraphs is occasionally disrupted by mechanical or repetitive cohesive devices. Phrases like 'A primary reason to advocate for this position' and 'On the other hand' are used correctly to signal transitions, but referencing is sometimes unclear, such as in the third paragraph where the link between fragmented homes and the urban collapse is abrupt. Paragraphing is present, but the internal flow of ideas needs tighter connections so that each sentence builds seamlessly upon the last. To move forward, the writer should employ a wider and more flexible variety of cohesive markers and ensure that pronoun referencing and logical links between sentences are consistently transparent and smooth.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'overpopulated', 'contemporary times', 'policy makers', and 'urban areas'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations that reveal a limited control of word choice and word formation. Examples include 'in metropolis' instead of 'in metropolises', 'essential builings' containing a spelling error, 'residential accomodation' with a double-consonant typo, 'reasonal way' instead of 'reasonable way', and 'that buildings' instead of 'those buildings'. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary items, but these frequent inaccuracies in spelling, word form, and collocation occasionally cause minor strain for the reader. To improve in this area, the student should focus on precise word choices, correct spelling conventions, and natural collocations suitable for academic writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but the range remains somewhat limited and the control of grammar is inconsistent. There are frequent grammatical errors, particularly regarding prepositions, gerunds, and infinitive clauses, such as 'needed to providing' instead of 'needed to provide', 'saved constructing' instead of 'saved by constructing', 'moving out people belonging to that zone beacuse they could not to afford' containing redundant auxiliary use and a spelling error, and 'it would lead to increasing' where 'lead to increase' or 'lead to an increase in' would be more precise. These frequent errors in grammar and punctuation can cause occasional difficulty for the reader and reflect a struggle to maintain accuracy when employing complex sentence forms. To reach the next level, the writer needs to increase sentence variety while strictly monitoring grammatical accuracy, especially with verb patterns and prepositions.

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