Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-15

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 true that tall apartment blocks can provide habitat for a larger number of population. While it has it advantages, it certainly has it's disadvantages. I will breakdown my argument in my following writing.

Tall apartment blocks takes a small space and can rose to very high to the sky under the city construction rules. They can accomodate more apartments, hence more people. But the problem is that these apartment blocks often ignores the authority guidelines. The owner of these blocks get into competition with other owners and try to occupy every space they can often breaking the city guidelines. Since they build the buildings in a small space, there isn't enough parking space for all the habitants and they tend to occupy the public road and footpath for their parking.

Then there comes the safety issue. These buildings often do not follow proper fire safety procedures like emergency fire exit, accomodating fire extinguisher etc. As a numerous number of people lives there, when a fire breaks out or a natural occurance like earthquake happens, it become impossible for all of them to get out of the building safely. They likely get injured trying to get out of the building. Even after that some of them can't get out of the building, hence become helpless.

At this point, I want to share a story about a fire incident in a high rise building happened last year here in Dhaka. Mostly everyone was sleeping at the middle of the night when the fire broke out in the middle of the night in an appartment from a cylinder burst. Soon the fire broke out to several other appartments too. People suddenly woke up and was in shock about what to do. In panic, they tried to get out of the appartment through the fire exit. But the fire exit was very narrow and it can only accomodate a handful of people. So most of the people were stuck withing the building only to be grasped by the fire. Those who went to the exit, also got injured from collision. Some people tried to jump off through windows which results in broken hand, legs or ribs. Finally fire fighter unit came and rescued most of them. But some people were totally burnt by the fire and the rescued ones also had several degrees of burn from the fire. If they live inn a suburb area where buildings are not tall, i think they could avoid this type of phenomena.

Certainly these appartment blocs have their own society. But it is no way comparable to the community we have in village or suburb areas. The sense of belonging that is provided by suburb areas can't be felt in the appartment blocs.

I want to conclude that, whether I can't completely agree with the notion, i am not in complete disagreement too.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the question by recognising that high-rise blocks can house many people, then explaining concerns about safety, parking and community life. Your Dhaka fire example gives the safety argument concrete support. However, the response only partly develops the central comparison: it does not clearly explain whether tall blocks are the best way to provide enough homes, or compare them with alternatives such as suburban housing or better-planned developments. The conclusion—“I can't completely agree … [and am] not in complete disagreement”—signals a mixed view but does not specify the conditions or reasons behind it. Develop a consistent position and connect each main point directly to the effectiveness of high-rise construction as a housing solution.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure, moving from the space-saving benefit to parking, safety, a specific incident, community life and a conclusion. Paragraphing helps separate these points, and transitions such as “Then there comes the safety issue” make the sequence easy to follow. Some links are mechanical or unclear, however: “At this point” introduces a story without explaining how it advances the argument, while “Certainly these apartment blocks have their own society” shifts abruptly to community life. The fire account also occupies a long section and repeats details about the fire and escape difficulties. Use clearer topic sentences, trim repeated narrative details, and make the relationship between each example and your overall position explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “fire safety procedures,” “emergency fire exit,” “natural … earthquake,” and “sense of belonging.” These choices help communicate the main concerns. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation and spelling errors are noticeable, sometimes making the account less clear. Examples include “habitat for a larger number of population,” “rose to very high,” “fire broke out to several other apartments,” and repeated misspellings such as “appartment” and “accomodate.” Aim for more precise housing and planning vocabulary, and check spelling carefully. More natural phrases such as “accommodate a larger population” and “spread to neighbouring apartments” would make your points clearer and more academic.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and complex sentences, including clauses beginning with “While” and “Since,” and the sequence of events in the fire example is generally understandable. However, errors occur frequently in verb forms, agreement, articles and sentence construction, and some make the reader pause. For example, “Tall apartment blocks takes” should have a plural verb, “it become impossible” needs a matching subject and verb, and “people … was in shock” has incorrect agreement. The final sentence, “whether I can't completely agree …,” is also not formed as a clear concluding statement. Practise checking each sentence for a clear subject and verb, and use a smaller number of accurately controlled complex structures before adding more.

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