Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-20

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)

Many people argue that tall apartment blocks are the best way to provide enough homes in large cities, while others argue the opposite and prefer living in normal houses in the outskists of the city.

which one of the two points of view is reasonable?

Personally i agree with people who consider that large apartment blocks are the best solution to providing enough homes in a big city, in defense of my point of view i give the following raesons :

If people chose the traditional way of building residences that would make cities grow larger in area which will remove many of forests and natural habitats of many animal species which will harm the country's ecological nature.

second, apartment blocks with good services such as parks and greenery and also close retail stores such as groceries and pharmacies are just as good as normal houses.

finally i give an example of my personal experience, as someone who lived in both appartement blocks and traditional private homes, i would choose an apartment due to many reasons. the main one is the view, due the building being tall i enjoy looking at the whole city from above and enjoy the scene with my coffee.

In conclusion i agree with people who consider apartment blocks to be the best solution to providing enough homes in big cities for the reasons mentioned above, as long as the buillding respects good coinditions of living and does not become an unsafe place for its residents or the neighbourhood in general.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you agree that apartment blocks are the best way to provide homes in large cities, and you give relevant reasons about protecting natural habitats, access to services, and your own experience. However, these points are not developed equally. The environmental point is asserted without explaining how compact housing limits urban expansion, while the personal example focuses mainly on enjoying the view rather than housing supply. The conclusion adds a useful condition about safe living standards, but this could be explained further. The response is 245 words, five words below the 250-word minimum; the 10 words copied from the prompt are not counted. Develop each reason with a clearer link to the question and a specific supporting detail.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph presenting your reasons, and a conclusion that restates your position. Sequencing words such as “second,” “finally,” and “In conclusion” help readers follow the main stages. However, the reasons are grouped into one long body paragraph, so the environmental argument, services point, and personal example do not each receive clear space. Some linking is mechanical, and the opening question, “which one of the two points of view is reasonable?”, interrupts the direct progression into your own position. Use separate paragraphs for distinct arguments and connect each example explicitly to the claim it supports; this would make the organisation more consistently clear.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate your main ideas, including “apartment blocks,” “natural habitats,” “retail stores,” and “residents.” There are also attempts at more specific phrasing, such as “ecological nature” and “conditions of living,” but these combinations are not natural in English and reduce precision. Spelling errors such as “outskists,” “raesons,” “appartement,” and “buillding” are noticeable, as are repeated general terms such as “people,” “reasons,” and “best solution.” Aim for accurate, natural collocations and check spelling carefully. A more precise range—for example, language about urban sprawl, green space, and housing density—would help express your ideas with greater flexibility.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a conditional construction (“If people chose the traditional way…”) and a relative clause (“who consider that…”). The main ideas remain understandable, but some errors in sentence boundaries, punctuation, articles, and prepositions make the writing less controlled. For example, “Personally i agree… in defense of my point of view i give…” joins separate ideas without appropriate sentence punctuation, and “due the building being tall” is not a well-formed prepositional construction. Capitalisation of “I” is also inconsistent. Practise building accurate complex sentences and separating complete clauses with full stops or suitable conjunctions; then proofread for articles and prepositions.

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