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)

I am agreeing to the statement which states, huge cities should make higher apartment blocks. An immense demand for flats has increased due to the people migrating from villages or regional areas, to cope up with this; the tall buildings will play an important role in surging the demand.

Therefore, prices of the apartments will not boost up due to availability of apartments. As a result middle class families can easily purchase their own home to live peacefully rather than living on monthly rent basis. For example, the house in the United Kingdom are smaller, as a result the house crises hit the country especially the London and people working harder to pay their home rents which cost them alot.

However, the approval from the higher authorities might be a great challenge for builders as it totally depends on the country's government and the legal system of particular country. In my home country, the building over 10 floors are prohibited, if the 11th floor would be built then, strict action would be taken by the government and they might demolish the whole building and the towers.

Furthermore, this should also be noted, the buildings must be built in accordance with the systematic manner as if eartquake hits the particular city, so it can easily handle the shake that occurs at that time. Many cases has happend few years ago and due to this the countries has suffered alot and many people has lost their precious lives and some has lost their child

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing the extent of agreement with building tall apartment blocks in large cities. The position is clear from the opening statement, where the writer expresses agreement and attempts to present supporting ideas, such as housing affordability and migration trends. However, the ideas are limited and under-developed, which keeps the response at this level. For instance, the example regarding the United Kingdom and London is abrupt and lacks sufficient elaboration to fully support the argument. Similarly, the points concerning government approvals and earthquake safety are introduced but left underdeveloped, lacking depth and specific supporting evidence. To move to a higher band, the writer needs to extend each main point with fuller explanations and more robust, detailed examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some basic organisation in the essay, with an introduction, body points, and a concluding set of thoughts, though there is no clear overall progression of ideas. Cohesive devices are used, but they are sometimes repetitive, mechanical, or used inaccurately, such as the frequent transitions like 'as a result' and 'furthermore'. Paragraphing is attempted, but the final paragraph breaks off abruptly mid-sentence, disrupting the flow of the text. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, making it hard to follow the exact logical connections between ideas. To achieve a higher band, the writer should ensure that cohesive devices are varied and natural, improve logical progression between sentences, and maintain complete, well-structured paragraphs throughout the response.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, with an attempt to incorporate less common items such as 'surging', 'prohibited', and 'demolish'. However, there are noticeable errors in word choice, collocation, and phrasing that occasionally cause confusion for the reader, such as 'I am agreeing', 'boost up', 'house crises', and 'systematic manner'. Spelling and word formation are generally clear, but the limited range of vocabulary restricts the overall expression of ideas. To reach the next band, the writer needs to expand their vocabulary range and use less common lexical items with greater precision and awareness of natural collocations, while minimizing word choice inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response demonstrates a very limited range of structures, with mostly simple sentences and a few attempts at complex forms that are often faulty. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including issues with verb tenses, article usage, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions, such as 'building over 10 floors are prohibited', 'if the 11th floor would be built', 'many cases has happend', and 'the countries has suffered'. These frequent errors require the reader to occasionally exert effort to decode the intended meaning. To improve, the writer should focus on strengthening basic grammatical accuracy, ensuring correct subject-verb agreement, mastering verb tense consistency, and building reliable control over complex sentence structures.

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