Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-23

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 idea to build tall buildings or towers just to get enough house for the citizens is quite interesting.But before it comes to the reality we need to check the pros and cons of it.

This is the most debatable topic between city planners.I personally do not support this idea because it has two different sides.According to my opinion lets see first see its positive sides.Providing enough homes to the citizens is one of the most challeng government has faced all the time everywhere in the world.It is vey easy option to save the land by letting people live in one or multiple towers.In single tower with 50-60 floors ,almost 600 different families can live.Also it helps to save the land.By building such towers government and city planners can save more land for another different projects like metro,bus stand,railway station,public parks rtc.But in reality such kind of tower projects doesnt work properly.The maharashtra state government has alredy tried this buildings in densly populated cities like Mumbai.

The results were not good in reality.

The water supply,maintainanace of the tower,safety this are the common issues never get solved properly.Also in case of natural disasters like earthqueak thousands of people could die within 5mins.The incident like fire has also made concern many time in city like Mumbai.If the such situation gets out of hand,this could cause mass human death.

Also ,as per many government and private surveys people who are living in such apartments are not really happy as they alwas had to compromise their privacy.

Sometimes the apartments are so small in these buildings that hardly even 3 people cant stay properly.They dont even get fresh air.

Instead of such gignatic projects city planners should work on small towers with maximum 10 floors.they should not compromise the house area so people can stay happily.Also the should focus on safety,fresh water supply ,parking area and small garden and kids play area.

Im not against the idea but instead of building 60-70 floors they should concentrate on minimum floors so people hoild not feel like they are living ina cage.Afterall everyone needs freedom.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you do not support very tall apartment blocks as the best solution, and your conclusion clarifies that you favour smaller buildings instead. You address both the potential benefit—saving land for transport and public spaces—and drawbacks such as water supply, maintenance, safety, privacy and limited space. The Mumbai example also helps connect the argument to a real context. However, some points are asserted rather than explained: for instance, the claim that residents are unhappy is attributed to surveys without details, and the disaster risks could be supported with a clearer explanation or example. Develop these points more fully and compare the alternatives directly with the proposal to build tall blocks.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has an overall structure: it introduces the issue, considers advantages, presents disadvantages, and ends with an alternative and a final position. This makes the main line of argument understandable. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow, and several ideas are crowded together in long blocks. The transition from the benefits of saving land to the claim that tower projects do not work is abrupt; a linking explanation would make the contrast clearer. Connectors such as “Also” and “Instead of” are repeated, while references such as “this” in “this are the common issues” are unclear. Use more deliberate paragraphing and vary linking expressions so each paragraph develops one main point.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “city planners,” “densely populated,” “privacy,” “natural disasters,” and “water supply,” which helps communicate the subject. There are also attempts at more specific language, such as “mass human death” and “compromise their privacy.” However, spelling errors and imprecise or unnatural word choices are noticeable and sometimes make the reader pause: examples include “challeng,” “maintainanace,” “gignatic,” and “rtc.” Some phrases are also awkward, such as “get enough house” and “this buildings.” Aim for accurate collocations and check spelling carefully. More precise terms for building management, emergency access and residents’ living conditions would make the argument clearer and more formal.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including conditional structures such as “If the such situation gets out of hand” and a contrast introduced by “Instead of.” This shows some range, and the overall meaning is generally recoverable. However, errors in sentence construction, agreement, articles and punctuation occur across the response. For example, “this are the common issues” has incorrect agreement, while “In single tower with 50-60 floors” is missing an article. Several sentences run together without appropriate punctuation, and “people hoild not feel like they are living ina cage” contains a faulty verb form. Practise building accurate complex sentences and proofread for sentence boundaries, articles and subject–verb agreement.

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