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)

The best way to provide enough homes and accomodations in a large city is building tall apartment blocks. But even so there are some matters that must be taken into account.

Tall apartment towers may seem like an easy fix to the increasing population problems in the urban areas.But nowadays there is a shortage of free land and because of that developers are using up the playgrounds and the open fields or even cutting down forests to make accomodations and profit. Which greatly hampers the environment and takes away playing spaces of the children.Many builders try to maximize profits and use cheap and bad quality materials for building which is totally unsafe for the future of the Residents.

An occurence that i saw happen right infront of my eyes was near my school. A big building was being constructed after taking up a playground whi j caused the children of that area to loose the only ground that they had.Nad because the builder was using cheap materials and inexperienced labourers many accidents happened during the construction which caused in the death of 3 people.

People crowd the big cities in search of jobs, treatment or education and in hopes of a better life. But the government should make arrangements so that no one has to move to the cities or abroad for a better life. They should get the chance and opportunities to make their life better right where they are.So the best option for solving the accomodations problem is giving the people opportunities right where they are and not just keep on making tall buildings.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You take a position against relying on tall apartment blocks alone, and your concerns about losing playgrounds and open land, unsafe construction, and concentrating opportunities in cities are relevant to the question. The example near your school gives one point a concrete illustration. However, the response does not fully weigh the proposed solution: it gives little consideration to how high-rise housing can provide homes efficiently, or to circumstances in which it may be appropriate. The alternative of creating opportunities outside cities is stated, but not explained in practical terms or supported with an example. Develop both sides and make your degree of agreement explicit in the introduction and conclusion to make the argument more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: it introduces the issue, presents drawbacks, gives a personal example, and ends with an alternative. This helps the reader follow the main line of thought. However, progression between ideas is sometimes abrupt. The paragraph about the school construction site repeats the concerns already raised rather than clearly extending them, while the final paragraph moves quickly from urban migration to government policy. Connect each paragraph to a distinct reason and explain how the example supports that reason. Linking words such as “But” and “So” are used, but the relationships between claims would be clearer with more precise transitions and references. Paragraphing is present, though the argument would benefit from a more deliberate sequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some topic-relevant vocabulary, including “shortage of free land,” “maximize profits,” “inexperienced labourers,” and “opportunities,” which allows you to discuss housing and urban development. However, the range is limited and several expressions are imprecise or repetitive, particularly “make accommodations,” “better life,” and “cheap and bad quality materials.” Spelling errors such as “accomodations,” “occurence,” and “loose” are noticeable, and some word choices make the meaning less natural. Aim for more precise collocations and vary repeated terms: for example, distinguish between housing supply, residential development, and affordable homes. More accurate vocabulary would make your argument clearer and more convincing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a reason clause beginning “because of that” and a longer sentence describing the construction site. The main ideas are generally understandable, but sentence boundaries and clause construction are not consistently controlled. “Which greatly hampers the environment” is a fragment, and “But nowadays there is a shortage … and because of that” becomes difficult to follow when joined to the preceding sentence. There are also errors in articles, agreement, and punctuation, such as “in a large city is building” and missing spaces after full stops. Practise forming complete sentences and checking that each dependent clause is attached to a main clause; this will improve accuracy without limiting your use of complex ideas.

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