Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-26

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 possible way to give homes to the people for their living, in large cities is to construct tall buildings.I partly agree with this statement, to make a living in large cities building tall apartments can provide necessary amenities for the people but everyone cannot afford the expenses living in tall apartment blocks.

On the one hand, by buliding tall apartment blocks, can provide homes in larger cities.Many people can have their seperate living space.Along with that people can use the amenities like swimming pool, gym facilities provided by the apartment.Furthermore, for tourist visitors they can have home without making any difficulty.For example, tourists coming from another cities can easily get a home without checking if there is any availabilty.

On the other hand, in large cities by building tall apartment blocks can provide enough homes for people.Eveyone cannot afford to live in the apartment as there were middle class, and poor people.For poor people it is extremely difficult to pay for the living expenses required for the apartment.They cant even afford money for their food.For example, poor and middle class people by living in apartment blocks has to suffer, by paying rent to the owner every month.

In conclusion, I believe that buliding tall apartment blocks can provide enough homes to people along with that i also agree that all people cannot afford to live in apartments in large cities.Although, providing homes in apartment in those large cities is important along with taking poor people into consideration in providing homes.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is that you partly agree: tall apartment blocks can provide homes and amenities, but their costs may exclude poorer residents. This addresses the central issue, and the two body paragraphs give relevant supporting points, including shared facilities and rent affordability. However, the response only partly develops the task: the affordability point is repeated, while the benefits of building upwards are not clearly explained in terms of how this approach provides enough homes compared with alternatives. The tourist example is also not strongly connected to the housing shortage. To strengthen the response, explain the scale or efficiency of high-rise housing and develop a specific example, while making your position on whether it is the best solution more precise.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, two contrasting body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The use of “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” helps readers follow the main stages of the argument. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear or repetitive. For example, the second body paragraph begins by repeating that tall blocks provide enough homes, then shifts to affordability without a clear link between the ideas. Some connections, such as “Along with that” and “Although,” are awkward or do not clearly express the intended relationship. Use topic sentences that state each paragraph’s main point, then connect each example directly to that point and avoid repeating the same claim.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “apartment blocks,” “amenities,” “living expenses,” and “middle class.” However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or repetitive, which sometimes makes the meaning less natural. For instance, “give homes to the people for their living” is an awkward way to describe providing housing, and “get a home” is imprecise in the tourist example. Spelling errors such as “buliding,” “seperate,” and “availabilty” also reduce accuracy. Aim for more precise housing vocabulary and check spelling carefully; varying repeated words such as “people,” “home,” and “apartment” would also make the argument clearer and more fluent.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a contrast with “but” and examples introduced by “For example.” Nevertheless, sentence structures are often faulty, and errors can make relationships between ideas difficult to follow. For example, “by buliding tall apartment blocks, can provide homes” has no clear subject, while “people by living in apartment blocks has to suffer” has an incorrect sentence structure and subject–verb agreement. There are also problems with articles, plurals, and punctuation, as in “in apartment” and the missing space after “buildings.” Practise writing complete sentences with an explicit subject and verb, then check agreement and article use. More accurate control of these patterns would make your ideas easier to understand.

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

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