Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-06

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)

Although people these days believe that the ideal way to accomodate enough houses in big cities is through constructing tall apartment blocks yet this is a debatable topic as its has two sides like that of any things, firstly there is a common perception of people believing that rather than tall apartments its better to provide shorter apartments whereas, i believe that it is always the best to provide homes in tall buildings.

To begin with, people worldwide believe that shorter apartments are a suitable choice for individuals rather than taller blocks. The most common reason for that is taller apartment blocks are more prone to any incident or any hazardous situation.For Example, taller apartments in New Delhi and Karachi are the ones that has suffered the most in situations like this from the collisions of these huge apartment blocks to the constant threat at the time of any earthquake. Because due to the old structure of these buildings they are more prone to situation like this.

On the other hand, i believe providing homes through building tall apartment blocks is the most viable option. People in big cities like that in toyko and beijing are huge in numbers and to deal with that immense population tall buidlings are constructed. Although when it comes to the natural hazard that come along the way these countries have created a way to deal with this through making their buildings shock proof as japan is the most prone to earthquakes so they now have constructed buildings that are compatible to earthquakes.

In conclusion, since there is a wide debate over the fact that either its good or bad to manufacture tall blocks to accomodate enough houses. Most people believe that its better to have smaller apartments due to their longer shelf life. Although i strongly believe that tall apartment blocks are the best solution to provide sufficient homes as they are now modernized according to their respective needs.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you support tall apartment blocks, and the response considers the opposing concern about safety before explaining how earthquake-resistant construction can address it. The examples of New Delhi, Karachi, Tokyo and Beijing are relevant to housing and hazards. However, some ideas are asserted rather than fully explained. For instance, the claim that shorter apartments have a “longer shelf life” is not developed, and the discussion of incidents in New Delhi and Karachi is vague about what happened or why shorter buildings would be safer. To strengthen the response, explain the advantages of building upwards—such as using limited urban land efficiently—and support each main point with a specific, clearly connected example. This would make the argument more fully developed across the task.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, two contrasting body paragraphs and a conclusion. “To begin with” and “On the other hand” help signal the shift from the opposing view to your own, so the overall progression is understandable. However, some linking is mechanical or unclear. The opening sentence uses “although” and “yet” together, while the sentence beginning “Because due to” does not connect smoothly to the preceding example. The conclusion also repeats the debate and your position rather than drawing the argument together. Use clearer topic sentences, make the relationship between each example and its point explicit, and vary transitions so that connections feel natural rather than formulaic.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of topic-related vocabulary, including “apartment blocks,” “immense population,” “natural hazard” and “earthquakes,” which makes your main ideas clear. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “the most viable option.” However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or awkward: “accomodate enough houses,” “collisions of these huge apartment blocks,” and “compatible to earthquakes” do not express the intended meanings naturally. Spelling errors such as “buidlings,” “toyko” and “accomodate” also reduce control. Aim for precise collocations and check spelling; for example, describe buildings as “designed to withstand earthquakes” and say that cities need to “accommodate a large population.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses introduced by “although,” “whereas” and “because.” This gives the response some structural variety, and the main position is generally understandable. However, some sentence structures are faulty or incomplete. The opening combines “Although” with “yet” and continues into a long, loosely joined sentence; “Because due to the old structure…” is a fragment, and “the ones that has suffered” has subject–verb disagreement. There are also inconsistent capitalisation and punctuation choices, such as lowercase “i” and missing spaces after full stops. Build complex sentences around one clear main clause, check agreement and clause completeness, and proofread punctuation and capital letters.

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

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