Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-24

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)

To answer the following question, we will have to consider some things regarding this matter.

In order to provide enough homes in large cities, we have to put in mind several factors that might have negative impact in the long term. In my opinion, building tall residential buildings have its cons and pros. For instance, one of the positive things about it, is saving a lot of lands in the city and reducing the costs of residing in one of these towers. However, these high buildings have a huge amount of people residing in them, and for sure these people need public services like schools and hospitals for example, the government will have to build big hospitals and schools in order to be capable of serving these people. So, we will need to use more lands to build more of those facilities to serve all people. Another issue that we are going to face is, there will not be any enough transportation for everyone. Two examples regarding this case: New York city, the most city with skyscrapers in the world, and what's deepening the issue is that the city has so many wealthy people and they own cars which leads to a congested streets during the rush hours. The 2nd example is Cairo. Cairo's slums; tall buildings housing hundreds of people living in narrow streets which barely fit an ambulance and fire trucks. Can you imagine how catastrophic that would be during emergencies, without mentioning the poor infrastructure.

In conclusion, Governments should be considerable about every decision they take related to this issue, they have to enact laws that criminalizes anyone violates this law. Governments should plan for sustainable cities, ensuring that no kind of problems mentioned to happen in the near future at least.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a relevant response and identify both an advantage of tall housing—saving land and potentially reducing housing costs—and drawbacks involving pressure on services, transport and emergency access. The examples of New York and Cairo help illustrate your concerns. However, the extent of your agreement is not stated clearly: “building tall residential buildings have its cons and pros” presents a balanced view, but the conclusion does not say whether you agree that towers are the best way to provide enough homes. Some claims also need fuller explanation, particularly how high-rise development itself leads to transport shortages or requires more land overall. State your position directly and develop fewer examples with clearer cause-and-effect reasoning.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable overall shape, moving from an introduction to supporting points and a conclusion, and it uses signposts such as “For instance,” “Another issue,” and “In conclusion.” The examples are generally connected to the discussion. However, progression within the main paragraph is difficult to follow because several points are crowded together, and the New York and Cairo examples arrive abruptly. The phrase “Two examples regarding this case” does not clearly identify which preceding claim the examples support. Some linking is also mechanical, while the opening sentence adds little to the argument. Use separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and make each example follow a clearly stated point with an explicit explanation of its relevance.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some topic-related vocabulary, including “residential buildings,” “public services,” “congested streets,” “infrastructure,” and “sustainable cities,” which allows you to discuss urban housing and its consequences. There are also attempts at more specific language, such as “rush hours” and “emergencies.” However, several inaccurate or unnatural choices make parts of the argument less clear, including “put in mind,” “what’s deepening the issue,” and “considerable about every decision.” Some wording is repetitive or imprecise, such as “big hospitals and schools” and “these people.” Aim for more natural collocations and precise terms, for example, “bear in mind,” “worsening the problem,” and “careful in making decisions.” Check word forms and spelling as well, including “Cairo’s slums” and “second.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and complex sentences, including clauses introduced by “However” and “which,” and most of the main ideas remain understandable. Nevertheless, errors recur in agreement, articles, sentence boundaries and verb forms. For example, “building tall residential buildings have its cons and pros” has a subject–verb agreement problem and an incorrect possessive; “a congested streets” combines an article with a plural noun; and “laws that criminalizes anyone violates this law” contains agreement and clause-structure errors. The long sentence beginning “However, these high buildings…” also joins several ideas without clear punctuation. Practise checking each sentence for a clear subject and verb, and divide long sentences where necessary. More accurate control of these patterns would make your reasoning easier to follow.

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