Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-14

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)

It is often argued that some people believe that building tall apartment blocks is the best way to provide enough housing in large cities.I partially agree with this view because high rise buildings can accomodate mant people ,although other housing solutions are also necessary.

On the one hand, building tall apartments has several advantages.Firstly, these apartments can provide accomodation for the large number of families while using less land.Secondly, the families who are not able to buy whole house they can live in these apartments because whole house in very expensive in large cities for a middle or low class people.

On the other hand, I believe that building tall apartments in not the only effective solution of this problem because living in the apartments leads to traffic congestion and also makes the area crowded which bothers the people.However, some people prefer to living in houses with gardens and personal outdoors space, but this is not possible in tall apartments due to shortage of land. I beleive government should develope residential areas outside the city centres and improve existing houses to provide more accomodation.These measures can offer people more housing options and reduce the pressure on crowded cities.

In Conclusion, I partially argree with this view that building tall apartments blocks can provide more accomodation while using less land, but it is not the only solution , government should also consider other housing solutions.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear, consistent partial-agreement position and address both the benefits of apartment blocks and the need for alternatives. The points about accommodating many families on less land and the cost of houses are relevant. However, several ideas are asserted rather than explained: for example, you say apartments cause congestion and crowding but do not show how or provide a specific example. The alternatives—building outside city centres and improving existing homes—are useful, but their contribution could be developed further. The response also contains 234 words, so it does not meet the 250-word minimum. Add a developed example and explain how your proposed measures would provide homes while managing the drawbacks of high-rise construction.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, two contrasting body paragraphs and a conclusion. The progression from advantages to limitations and alternatives is easy to follow, and signposts such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand” and “In Conclusion” help guide the reader. However, the linking is somewhat mechanical, and some transitions are not smoothly punctuated: “However” is joined directly to the preceding sentence. The second body paragraph also combines several points—crowding, preferences for gardens and government measures—without fully separating or developing them. Use clearer sentence boundaries and connect each supporting detail explicitly to the paragraph’s main point to make the progression more natural.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “high rise buildings,” “traffic congestion,” “residential areas” and “housing options.” Some phrases also show an attempt to express the issue precisely, such as “reduce the pressure on crowded cities.” However, the range is limited by repeated use of “apartments,” “houses” and “provide accommodation,” and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, including “personal outdoors space” and “whole house.” Spelling errors such as “accomodate,” “beleive” and “develope” are noticeable. Build a wider set of accurate housing-related expressions and check spelling carefully; this would make the argument more precise and fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a contrast clause with “although” and a sentence beginning “because.” The overall meaning is generally understandable, but errors in sentence construction and grammatical patterns occur across the response. For example, “the families who are not able to buy whole house they can live” has an unnecessary repeated subject and an incorrect article pattern; “prefer to living” uses the wrong verb form; and “building tall apartments in not” has an incorrect verb. There are also punctuation problems where sentences run together, such as “crowded cities.I partially agree.” Practise accurate clause construction, verb patterns and articles, then proofread for sentence boundaries.

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