Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-09

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)

In large cities, the best way to provide enough homes is to build tall apartment blocks because in many big cities there is a shortage of space. So, many people cannot built a separate house for themselves and they have to live in apatments.

I think it will help people reconnect with the society because nowadays people are spending most of their time in homes watching mobile or TV, they are gradually disconnecting from outerworld and when people will start living in apartments they will know the value of neighbours

which they do not do if they are living in their own house.

It is also cost friendly as well because you can get apartment in cheap price compared to buying a house or building one. The apartment blocks has the biggest advantage, that many families can live under one roof instead of living in separate houses.

Although, there are advantages but you cannot ignore the disadvantages as well and I think the biggest one is the privacy of the family. Many people want to keep their life private but when they will live in apartments where there are other families are living as well so they will hesitate to live in.

Another major drawback is that, the area in which these apartments will build it will be close to the centre of city where residents can have access to all basic needs but they will ignore the fact that it is harmful for environment because they will have to cut trees inorder to build these apartments.

In conclusion, I will say that although it has some positive points but its negative points cannot be ignored and for me the main thing is getting privacy and if I am not getting that, so I think I disagree with this statement.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear overall response: you initially support apartment blocks as a way to address limited space, but your conclusion disagrees because privacy matters to you. You also present relevant advantages and disadvantages, including affordability, social contact, privacy and tree loss. However, the position is not consistently maintained: the opening strongly endorses the proposal, while the conclusion rejects it, and the reasons for this shift are not fully explained. Some points, such as the claim that apartment living reconnects people with society, are asserted rather than supported with a specific example or explanation. To strengthen the response, state your degree of agreement clearly from the beginning and develop fewer points with more precise reasoning and relevant examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an opening, paragraphs presenting benefits and drawbacks, and a conclusion. The ideas are generally relevant and can be followed, and contrast markers such as “Although” and “In conclusion” help signal the direction of the discussion. However, progression is uneven: the opening supports the proposal, but the final paragraph disagrees without clearly reconciling that change. Several sentences contain multiple ideas joined loosely, and the paragraph about environmental harm is difficult to follow because the relationship between location, access to services and tree removal is not clearly organised. Use a clearer paragraph focus, link each supporting explanation directly to its main point, and make references such as “it” and “they” more precise.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “shortage of space,” “privacy,” “environment,” and “basic needs.” There are also attempts to express more specific concepts, such as “reconnect with the society.” However, the range is limited and some word choices or collocations are unnatural or unclear, including “cost friendly,” “outerworld,” and “the biggest advantage.” Spelling errors such as “apatments” and “inorder” also reduce accuracy. These issues do not prevent the reader from understanding the overall argument, but they make parts of it less fluent. Build a wider set of natural phrases for housing and urban planning, and check spelling and collocations during revision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, using clauses with “because,” “when,” and “although,” so the response shows some structural variety. The main ideas are usually understandable, but errors recur in verb forms, agreement, articles and sentence construction. For example, “people cannot built” should use the base form after “cannot,” while “The apartment blocks has” has a subject–verb agreement problem. The sentence beginning “when they will start living” also uses an awkward future construction, and “where there are other families are living” contains an unnecessary second verb. Aim to make complex sentences more controlled: check subject–verb agreement, verb patterns and clause structure, and divide overloaded sentences where needed.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.