Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-28

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)

In today's era, people are coming in large cities for wages from country sides. Cities are becoming more populated day-by-day and the area of living remains the same. Due to the over crowed in cities and lack of land, people are prefering to buy flats and apartments in tall buildings.

On the one hand, it is really good for the people who wants to provide their places for rent and paying guests to earn from it. It also resolve the issue of land for providing homes. Individuals who are not capible of buying area for building house, now can buy an apartment in building with the same amount alongside of living facilities e.g. parking, water supply, playground etc.

On the other hand, some people find it a little difficult to live in. People with disabilty and old age find it challenging to move in a building. Some surveys shows peices of evidence that a person who was living a house previously, find it conjusted living in a flat.

Generally, keeping all things in mind it is necessary to build tall apartment blocks to live in large cities because it solves the problem of land to build houses seperately.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You address the topic by discussing both the benefits and drawbacks of tall apartment blocks, and your conclusion clearly supports building them. However, the response only partially develops the task: the advantages focus mainly on rental income and shared facilities, while the disadvantages are briefly stated and not fully explained. The point about older people and people with disabilities, for example, would be stronger with an explanation of how building design or access affects them. Your position is also not fully clear until the conclusion, as the two-sided discussion does not establish how strongly you agree. The response is 198 words, below the required 250, so there is not enough space to develop and support your ideas fully.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, two paragraphs presenting contrasting views, and a conclusion. The signposts “On the one hand” and “On the other hand” help readers follow the change in focus, and the final sentence returns to the main issue. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear. For instance, the first body paragraph moves from rental income to land availability and then to facilities without explaining how these points connect. The conclusion largely repeats the land argument rather than drawing together the discussion. Develop each paragraph around one main idea and use clearer links between the claim, explanation, and example; this would make cohesion less mechanical and referencing more precise.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “populated,” “land,” “apartments,” “disability,” and “living facilities.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “paying guests” and “congested living,” although some are not natural or precise in context. Noticeable spelling and word-choice errors include “over crowed,” “capible,” “peices,” and “seperately”; these reduce accuracy and can make the reader pause. Some wording is also repetitive, particularly references to “build,” “building,” and “houses.” Broaden your range with accurate terms for urban housing and accessibility, and check spelling and collocations carefully so your vocabulary conveys ideas more precisely.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “Individuals who are not capable of buying area…” and a contrastive structure with “On the other hand.” The main meaning is generally understandable, but errors in agreement, verb forms, articles, and sentence construction occur often enough to affect fluency. For example, “people are prefering” should use a correct verb form, “it also resolve” needs subject–verb agreement, and “some people find it a little difficult to live in” lacks a clear reference for “it.” The opening sentence also uses an awkward grammatical pattern for describing migration to cities. Practise accurate subject–verb agreement and complete sentence patterns, while retaining your attempts at complex structures.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.