Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-05

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)

The best way to offer enough homes in big cities is to build huge apartment blocks.

Generally speaking, many cities are becoming smaller due to rapid urbanization and this is mainly attributed to globalization.

Cities are deprived with enough land for building sufficient independent houses and this has lead to a widespread increase in apartments or skyscrapers.

This is a best way of providing home to all as this idea of tall building can accomodate a large number of people rather than just a single home. It has numerous units in each floor where a lot of people can live easily. Assume a portion of land built only for an individual to live in is not apt, but inplace of this a huge apartment is built with multiple floors a lot of people can stay with ease.

Furthermore, there will be no need for worrying about space and fighting over land issues. Huge unused places can be reused or reconstructed into oxygen zone or nature parks where people can use this to manage their health and these infrastructure built can help tackle problem associated with poor air quality and asthama related diseases

The apartments are vertically built, hence reducing the need for horizontal expansion which occupies more space. No person can be left behind when we build vertical blocks of homes on top of each other, there will be ample amount of space left which we can conserve.

Hence, I conclude that I agree with building blocks of tall houses on top of each other is the best way of providing enough homes for everybody.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by presenting a clear position that agrees with building tall apartment blocks, supporting it with reasons such as space conservation and urban efficiency. However, the ideas remain somewhat limited and under-developed. For instance, the discussion around converting unused spaces into nature parks lacks specific details or examples to fully flesh out the argument. The opening premise contains a factual contradiction by stating that cities are becoming smaller due to urbanization, which impacts the clarity of the argument. To move to a higher level, the writer needs to extend their ideas more fully with deeper explanations and avoid internal contradictions in their reasoning.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay displays some basic organization, utilizing transition signals such as 'Furthermore' and 'Hence' to connect ideas. However, there is a lack of clear overall progression and logical flow between sentences, particularly within the body paragraphs where thoughts feel repetitive and circular. Paragraphing is attempted, but the grouping of ideas lacks precision; the fourth paragraph attempts to contrast individual homes with apartments using conversational phrasing ('Assume a portion of land...') which disrupts the academic tone and logical progression. Improving the connection of ideas and ensuring each paragraph has a single, well-managed central theme would greatly enhance the overall coherence of the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses a limited, minimally adequate range of vocabulary suitable for discussing the topic of urban housing, including terms like 'urbanization', 'skyscrapers', and 'vertical expansion'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors, such as 'deprived with' instead of 'deprived of', and a spelling error in 'accomodate'. Word choice is sometimes repetitive or imprecise, as seen in expressions like 'huge unused places' and 'tall houses on top of each other'. To improve vocabulary performance, the writer should aim to incorporate less common lexical items accurately and pay closer attention to standard collocations and word forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The text displays a limited range of grammatical structures, relying heavily on basic sentence forms alongside attempts at complex sentences that frequently contain errors. There are noticeable errors in prepositions and verb patterns, such as 'has lead to' instead of 'has led to', and awkward phrasing like 'this infrastructure built can help tackle problem'. Punctuation and article usage also show occasional lapses. While the reader can generally follow the intended meaning, the frequent grammatical errors across various patterns indicate that the writer needs to exercise greater control over complex sentence formation and grammatical agreement to achieve higher proficiency.

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