Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-07

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)

We will be discussing an idea related to the devleopment sector which is, to accomodate growing population in metropolitan cities , building resedential skyscrapers are a way to fascilitate everyone.

I disagree with the idea to build tall apartment blocks in major cities because it causes conjestion within the city making it inhabitable.

Where multi-story resedential complexes provide living to numerous people which fascilitates them to live nearby where they work. But, i believe instead it causes the city to be overloaded. More households mean more cars which effect the air and pollute it. There are certain measures that are also not considered while building appartment blocks such as water availability and enough sewerage drains.

When one leaves from his office he faces long time stuck in traffic just to reach his home, while if people were living in the outskirts of the city might have reached home within the same time but having less stress and frustration caused by road traffic.

Instead developers and builders should consider biulding soceities outside the city so the population is spread vertically on ground, not vertically above one another concentrated within the city boundaries. The tremendous rate of growing population in cities like Mumbai and Tokyo, government must revoke the permit of developers to build high skyscrapers, instead the government should provide all fascilites outside the city aswell so that people feel comfortable living there aswell.

While living in cities have its perks and cons by in my opinion there are more cons that effect the livelyhood of people. That cons can be, effect on health due to air pollution or destroyed city infrastructure.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you disagree with building tall apartment blocks, arguing that they can worsen congestion, pollution and pressure on infrastructure. These are relevant reasons, and the references to Mumbai and Tokyo help connect the discussion to real cities. You also acknowledge the opposing benefit that apartment complexes house many people near work, which helps address the question rather than presenting only one side. However, some points are asserted more than explained. For example, the claim that residents in the outskirts may get home faster is not supported with a clear explanation, and the proposal to spread population “vertically on ground” is difficult to understand. Develop the comparison with specific reasoning or an example to make your argument more convincing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has an identifiable progression: it introduces disagreement, gives reasons, proposes an alternative, and ends by restating the disadvantages. Paragraph breaks also separate the main stages of the argument. However, connections between ideas are sometimes awkward or unclear. The opening of the third paragraph, “Where multi-story residential complexes…,” is a fragment, while “But, i believe” creates an abrupt transition. The traffic example and the proposal to build outside the city could be linked more explicitly, and the final paragraph repeats earlier points rather than drawing them together. Use clear topic sentences and connect each example directly to the claim it supports; vary linking expressions instead of relying on “while,” “but,” and “instead.”

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some topic-relevant vocabulary, including “metropolitan cities,” “residential complexes,” “air pollution,” and “city infrastructure,” so the reader can follow the general subject. There are also attempts at more specific language, such as “sewerage drains” and “developers.” However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable and sometimes make the meaning less clear: “conjestion,” “fascilitate,” and “livelyhood” are misspelled, while “spread vertically on ground” does not express the intended contrast clearly. Some phrases are also imprecise or unnatural, such as “provide living to numerous people” and “effect on health.” Build accuracy with common collocations and check spelling carefully; precise wording will help your relevant ideas come across more effectively.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a conditional comparison beginning “if people were living in the outskirts” and a sentence explaining the consequences of more households. This shows some range, but control is uneven. The opening “Where multi-story residential complexes provide living…” is not a complete sentence, and “the tremendous rate of growing population… government must revoke” lacks a clear grammatical connection between its opening phrase and main clause. There are also errors in agreement and sentence construction, as in “living in cities have its perks,” and punctuation around introductory clauses is inconsistent. Aim to make each sentence complete, check that subjects and verbs agree, and divide long sentences when their relationships become difficult to follow.

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

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