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 most efficient way to accomadate people in large cities is to build huge appartments covering minimum land area while giving off maximum home units.

Large cities have high population rates having both native and non-native residents. For accomodating maximum number of people, one can built good number of appartments as it covers less area than an average Bunglow would take. Let's take an example of NYC. It's a hugh city holding its native and high number of immigrants.The infrastructure of the city speaks of it's well planned building structures. It's a city with high number of appartment blocks centrally. People living in the large cities are more likely to prefer luxuries and appartments to validate their though process and particulary these days, people take livving in appartment as one of the luxuries.

On the other hand, Big Houses with high covered area, huge parking lots and backyards adds to the occupation of more land. The larger the house, the higher will be the maintaining burden, cost and needs. Living in an appartment saves you from these hustles as it requires less of everything. For example, if you're living in a mansion then you will also have to look after the garden area, washing the stairs and cleaning the basement etc. Since larger cities generate more revenus, the chances of theft, robbery and looting is also high there.

Hence, I agree with the statement of providing enough homes through building tall apartment block, as it's more cheap, safe, easy to clean and a part of society norms these days.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you agree that tall apartment blocks are an effective way to provide homes in large cities. You give relevant reasons, including using less land and reducing the maintenance burden, and the New York example helps connect the argument to a real city. However, some points are less fully explained. For instance, the claim that apartment living is a luxury or a social norm is asserted rather than supported, and the discussion of theft and robbery does not clearly show why tall blocks provide safer housing. Develop each reason with a clearer explanation or a specific example, and address the wording “the best way” by briefly considering whether other approaches could also help meet housing demand.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an opening position, two body paragraphs introduced by “On the other hand,” and a concluding statement. The main ideas are generally grouped sensibly, and examples such as the mansion’s garden and basement illustrate the maintenance point. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes loose: the discussion moves from apartment preferences to New York’s infrastructure, then to luxury, without clearly showing how each point supports the central argument. “On the other hand” also suggests a contrast, although the paragraph continues to support your position. Use more precise links and organise each body paragraph around one main reason, followed by explanation and evidence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “population,” “immigrants,” “infrastructure,” “parking lots,” and “maintenance burden,” which helps communicate the housing argument. There are also attempts at less common phrasing, such as “occupation of more land,” though some combinations are unnatural or imprecise. Repeated use of “appartments” and “large” limits the sense of control, while spelling errors such as “accomodate,” “hugh,” and “revenuis” are noticeable. Some choices, including “validate their though process” and “hustles,” do not express the intended meaning clearly in this context. Aim for accurate spelling and natural collocations, and choose vocabulary that states the point directly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including comparisons such as “The larger the house, the higher will be the maintaining burden” and a conditional example beginning “if you're living in a mansion.” Most of the argument remains understandable, but some grammatical errors and punctuation problems reduce accuracy. For example, “one can built” uses the wrong verb form, “Big Houses … adds” has a subject–verb agreement error, and “as it's more cheap” has an incorrect comparative construction. The sentence beginning “Large cities have high population rates having…” is also awkwardly structured. Practise verb forms, agreement, and comparative patterns, and use sentence boundaries consistently to make complex ideas easier to follow.

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.