Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-13

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)

Urban areas accomodate several individuals and famililes in a confined space in vertical buildings. While it benefits the cities to manage housing in much convenient approach, its drawbacks on urban areas and rural areas cannot be ignored. Therefore, I partially agree with this statement as there are certainly several benefits including infrastructures, public services and opportunities in citites, its negative impact on rural regions should also be highlighted.

Tall buildings are build to house numerous people under a small areas, with growing economy and population individuals seek better opportunity and services. Consequently, they migrate to developed cities for such facilities and services. Managing such population is often difficult because of limited land in urban areas. As people migrate from different region, they can share their cultures and traditions, which enhances social cohesion. Therefore, high rise building serves as a major infrastructure to manage such rising population.

However, urbanization and accomodating people in tall apartment buildings comes with consequences including limited employment opportunities and services, and congested traffic. As population increases in urban areas, needs of services and facilities increases to maintain the stability such as transportation, job opportunity and pubic services. Furthermore, rural areas are more vulnerable to such development, with labour shortages in argriculture and lack of basic facilities being the primary issue.

In conclusion, although building tall apartment blocks mitigate the problem of overpopulation in cities with employment opportunities and a gateway to better life and future, its negative impact on rural areas and the limited infrastructure and servies cannot be ignored.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is stated as partial agreement, and you give relevant points about housing pressure, migration to cities, and possible effects on rural areas. However, the response only partly answers the specific question of whether tall apartment blocks are the best way to provide enough homes. The discussion of shared cultures and social cohesion is not clearly linked to housing provision, while claims about limited employment and services are asserted rather than explained. The conclusion also introduces employment opportunities as a benefit without showing how apartment blocks create them. To strengthen the response, compare high-rise housing with alternatives and develop each main reason using a clear explanation or a concrete example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay has a recognisable introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion, and the contrast signalled by “However” helps readers follow the shift to disadvantages. Nevertheless, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear: the first body paragraph moves from housing capacity to migration and then cultural sharing without showing how each point supports the argument. The second paragraph combines urban service pressures with rural labour shortages, so the relationship between these effects needs clearer explanation. Some linking phrases, such as “Consequently” and “Furthermore,” connect sentences mechanically rather than showing precise logical relationships. Organise the body around distinct advantages and disadvantages, and use clearer references and transitions to make the argument develop step by step.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “confined space,” “limited land,” “social cohesion,” and “labour shortages,” which helps establish the subject. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation and spelling errors make parts of the essay less clear, such as “manage housing in much convenient approach,” “Tall buildings are build,” and “limited employment opportunities and services.” Repeated general terms such as “services,” “facilities,” and “population” also reduce precision. Aim for more accurate housing-related expressions and check spelling carefully; for example, distinguish between housing capacity, public infrastructure and employment access rather than grouping them together. More precise vocabulary would make your reasoning easier to follow.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a concession in “While it benefits the cities…” and a cause-and-effect sentence beginning “As population increases…”. However, errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences awkward or difficult to interpret. Examples include “Tall buildings are build,” “under a small areas,” and “needs of services and facilities increases,” where verb forms, number agreement and sentence construction are not controlled. The opening sentence also lacks a clear grammatical relationship between its ideas. Practise checking subject–verb agreement, singular and plural forms, and the structure of longer sentences. Building accurate shorter sentences first, then combining them with clauses, will improve clarity and control.

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.