Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-29

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 population of the world has been increasing extensively over the years and most of the countries could not make policies to overcome the problem. Due to increase in population, the world is facing a alot of problems. Among that problems, residency is a common problem, so to overcome this situation some people think that by constructing higher apartment blocks in high popultion areas, this situation can be resolved. I am agree on their points which I will discuss below.

Firstly, due to overcrowed cities, the area is not enough to compensate all the people in one story building. For example, Karachi is a crowded city by the local peple and also with foreign people. It is nearly impossible to provide all the people home in one story apartment. Thus more apartments are formed to adjust all the residents.

Secondly, due to economic depression, most of the people can not afford their own home. By shifting on an any apartment, which is relatively cost effective, can compensate with their budget. For example, to keep the both ends meet, the middle class is struggling with their jobs, food, and healthcare expenditures, it is a good aption for them to avail.

Thirdly, most of the areas are under the flood which also reduces the area for residency. Each year Pakistan face the flood in different areas like Karachi, Lahore, Wazirabad, and Rawalpindi. Due to thid catastrophic condition, It is more reasonable to manufacture the tall apartments on safe areas where flood cant not be reached there.

To sumup the whole discussion, After looking the middle-class, floods and over population, building tall apartment blocks is a good option to avail, although the drawbacks with higher buildings can not be ignored but it is an economical option.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you agree that tall apartment blocks can help address housing shortages, and you give relevant reasons involving overcrowding, affordability and flood risk. The Karachi example supports the space argument, while the discussion of middle-class costs adds a practical perspective. However, some points are not fully explained. In particular, the link between floods and building taller apartments in safe areas needs more detail, and the affordability point would be stronger if you explained how apartment blocks reduce housing costs. You briefly acknowledge drawbacks in the conclusion but do not identify or discuss any. Develop each reason with a clearer explanation and a specific example to make the argument more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure, with an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. Sequencing words such as “Firstly,” “Secondly,” and “Thirdly” make the progression easy to follow, and each paragraph focuses on a distinct reason. However, this linking is somewhat mechanical, and some connections between ideas are unclear. For example, the shift from economic depression to apartment affordability needs a more explicit explanation, while the flood paragraph would benefit from a clearer link between the problem and the proposed solution. The conclusion repeats the main reasons rather than synthesising them. Use a wider range of natural transitions and make the relationship between each claim and its supporting example explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate your main ideas, including “overcrowded cities,” “economic depression,” “middle class,” and “catastrophic condition.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “keep the both ends meet.” However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, including “residency” for housing, “compensate all the people,” and “avail” in the final paragraph. Spelling errors such as “popultion,” “overcrowed,” and “aption” also reduce accuracy. These issues do not prevent the reader from understanding the overall argument, but they limit precision. Focus on common housing-related collocations and check spelling carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including clauses introduced by “which” and “although,” and your main meaning is generally understandable. However, control is inconsistent, particularly in longer sentences. Examples include “I am agree,” “Each year Pakistan face the flood,” and “By shifting on an any apartment … can compensate,” where verb forms, agreement and sentence construction are faulty. Articles and prepositions also need attention, as in “in one story building” and “on safe areas.” The final sentence beginning “To sumup” contains awkward punctuation and structure. Practise building accurate sentences around one main clause, then add subordinate clauses only when their grammatical relationship is clear.

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