Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-11

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)

There is an ongoing agruement regarding homes in large cities. Many people believes that the best way to provide homes is to build tall apartment building meanwhile other thinks opposite to this. I personally agree with the construction of tall apartment blocks. So, lets discuss this.

Firstly, with the construction of tall apartments more people are able to get their homes easily by several ways, they can get it by advance bookings and also with the help of this approach it is easy to manage the space used to build individual houses because it is more convinient for a small family of 2 to 3 members to live and manage a small apartment than having a huge independent house. Then it also helps to free up the unneccessary space in the larger cities by excluding the residential areas and that can be used for any commercial purposes like to build offices which can also create job opprtunities.

Then the people who disagree with this are usually those with huge families like they are 10 to 12 members in a single family or they are living in joint-family system. So, its difficult for them to adjust and have their privacy in an apartment because they are usually for 2-3 persons. So, its better suitable for these people to live in an independent home rather than any apartment.

In conclusion, having apartment blocks are very easy to manage the space in large cities but it is also necessary to have a society or colony with individual homes so everyone can easily live there.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you agree that tall apartment blocks are a useful way to provide homes, and you give relevant reasons, including making better use of urban land and freeing space for commercial development. You also acknowledge a limitation for larger families, so the response engages with both sides of the issue. However, the discussion is only partly developed. For example, the claim that apartments help people obtain homes “by advance bookings” is not explained, and the point about large families is asserted rather than supported with an example or a fuller explanation. The conclusion introduces a need for individual homes but does not clarify how this qualifies your overall agreement. Develop each main reason and make your final position more precise.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, supporting paragraphs and a conclusion, and the ideas generally relate to the topic. However, progression within the body is not always clear: the first paragraph moves from access to housing, to family size, to commercial space without clearly showing how these points connect. Transitions such as “Firstly,” “Then,” and “In conclusion” help signal stages, but their use is somewhat mechanical, and “Then the people who disagree” does not clearly link the counterargument to the previous point. The conclusion also adds a new recommendation about individual homes rather than neatly summarising the argument. Group related ideas into focused paragraphs and use clearer referencing and transitions to show how each point supports your position.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “apartment blocks,” “residential areas,” “commercial purposes,” and “job opportunities.” However, the range is limited and several word-choice or spelling errors make the writing less precise. Examples include “ongoing agruement,” “convinient,” “unneccessary,” and “opprtunities”; “advance bookings” is also unclear in this context. Some phrases are repetitive, particularly “people,” “homes,” and “apartment,” while “huge independent house” and “free up the space” are not always natural or exact. Build a more accurate range of housing and urban-planning vocabulary, and check spelling carefully. More precise expressions would help distinguish housing supply, land use and household needs.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentences, including clauses linked with “because” and “which,” but complex sentences are often not controlled accurately. Agreement errors appear in “Many people believes” and “other thinks,” while “having apartment blocks are” has a mismatch between the subject and verb. There are also problems with articles and sentence construction, as in “it is more convenient for a small family … to live and manage a small apartment than having a huge independent house.” Several sentences run together or use commas where a full stop or clearer clause structure is needed. These errors are frequent enough to make parts of the response awkward to follow, although the overall meaning remains understandable. Practise subject–verb agreement and build longer sentences from shorter, accurate clauses.

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