Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-17

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)

I agree to the statement claiming that the best and most efficient way of supplying homes in big cities are to build tall building that contain multiple flats.

Usually, big cities tend to be economical centers, gravitating a large number of people to come live, work and establish a family in or around the geographical location. The growing number of the city's population compared to its limited land area create a need for vertical expansion, creating buildings that can occupy tens and maybe hundreds of people through multiple flats. This utilization of area is vital for sustainable growth of the population to provide homes for future generations. Careful urban planning must be executed to account for potential disadvantages of building such tall blocks.

Although tall apartment blocks are important for big cities, they usally don't hold that much significance in small, rural areas. Horizontal expansion is far more occuring in non-urbanized cities where one usually owns his own horizontal land. If such a method was to be implemented in urbanized cities, it would create serious and dangerous problems. Such problem that would arise is, where will the homes be built? If urban planners were able to allocate horizontal space across the city, that would make it extremely hard to transport to its center, taking a lot of time, effort and energy consumption.

In conclusion, the claim that the best way to provide enough homes in large cities is to build tall apartment blocks is very much accurate and alligned with facts that urban planners have reached a long time ago.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear from the opening and conclusion: you agree that tall apartment blocks are the best way to provide homes in large cities. You give relevant reasons, especially limited land and the difficulty of spreading housing across a city, and you acknowledge that urban planning must address disadvantages. However, the response is short of the required minimum: it contains 244 words, six fewer than 250, and 16 words copied from the prompt were not counted. More importantly, the supporting ideas remain general. For example, explain how vertical housing increases capacity or give a specific city-based example; the point about rural areas is relevant but does not develop the case for your position in much detail.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion, and the main position is easy to follow. The second body paragraph also introduces a contrast between urban and rural development. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear: the first moves from cities attracting people to vertical expansion and then to planning disadvantages without explaining the connection fully. The question “where will the homes be built?” is followed by a point about transport, but the link between these ideas could be made more explicit. Connectors such as “Although” and “In conclusion” help, but the overall development relies on a small set of transitions. Use clearer topic sentences and link each supporting explanation directly to the central claim.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some topic-relevant vocabulary, including “vertical expansion,” “limited land area,” “urban planning” and “horizontal expansion,” which helps communicate the subject. However, the range is uneven, and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or awkward, such as “economical centers” for cities that attract employment and business, “gravitating a large number of people,” and “horizontal land.” There are also noticeable spelling errors, including “usally” and “alligned.” These do not prevent the reader from understanding your overall argument, but they reduce precision and naturalness. Aim for accurate, conventional combinations and check spelling carefully; using a smaller number of well-controlled expressions is more effective than attempting unusual phrasing without confidence.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “buildings that can occupy…” and a conditional structure beginning “If urban planners were able to…”. The main meaning is generally understandable, but errors recur in agreement, articles and sentence construction. For example, “the best and most efficient way … are to build” has a singular subject with a plural verb, while “The growing number … create” also needs singular agreement. “Tall building” should be plural or use an article, and “where will the homes be built?” is an embedded question that needs statement word order after “is.” These patterns show why greater control is needed. Review agreement and embedded questions, then proofread each sentence for complete, accurate structure.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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