Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-31

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)

Lack of homes is a major problem in large cities. Some people believe that building tall apartment blocks is the best solution for providing abundant homes in large cities and I agree with this solution.

The main problem of urbanization is deforestration. If building tall apartments are avoided, the area of land for construction needs to be expanded resulting in cutting of trees. Consequently, people will face problems like global warming and climate change.

Building tall apartments will give a lot of benefits. As more number of people will consume only small amount of space, which will make it easier to provide facilities like water supply and electricity and less resources will be used to provide them. Although, providing tall apartments are some good for nature some problem will occur like congestion, traffic and noise.

In conclusion, building tall apartment blocks can provide enough homes in large cities but it can lead to various problems like traffic, congestion and noise but the advantages of it outweighs the disadvantages making it the best solution for lack of homes in large cities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

Your position is clear: you agree that tall apartment blocks are the best solution, and you give relevant reasons, including reduced land use and easier provision of water and electricity. You also acknowledge drawbacks such as traffic, congestion and noise. However, the response addresses the task only partially because these points are stated briefly rather than explained or supported with examples. The claim that avoiding tall buildings would require cutting trees, for instance, needs a clearer link to how this affects housing supply, and the disadvantages are not weighed in detail against the benefits. The response is also 70 words below the required minimum, limiting the space available to develop your argument. Add specific examples and explain why the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion. The ideas generally follow a sensible order, moving from the land-use argument to benefits and drawbacks, and linking phrases such as “Consequently” and “In conclusion” help signal relationships. However, progression within paragraphs is limited because each point is introduced but not extended with explanation or an example. Some connections are also awkward: “Although, providing tall apartments…” does not clearly show how the contrast relates to the preceding sentence. The conclusion repeats the main points rather than drawing them together. Develop each paragraph around one main idea, use clearer transitions between contrasting points, and make references between sentences more explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main argument, including “urbanization,” “global warming,” “climate change,” “congestion” and “traffic.” This gives the response some range beyond basic everyday language. However, the vocabulary is repetitive, particularly “tall apartment blocks/apartments,” “large cities” and “problems,” and several choices or forms are inaccurate. “Abundant homes” is not a natural way to describe housing provision, while “deforestration” is misspelled and “less resources” has an incorrect form. These issues do not prevent the reader from understanding your position, but they reduce precision. Build a wider set of natural collocations for housing and urban planning, and check spelling and word forms when editing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a conditional sentence beginning “If building tall apartments are avoided” and a contrast introduced with “Although.” Most of the meaning remains understandable, but errors in agreement and sentence construction recur. For example, “If building tall apartments are avoided” has a mismatch between the gerund subject and verb, and “As more number of people will consume…” is an incomplete dependent clause rather than a complete sentence. In the conclusion, “the advantages of it outweighs” also has subject–verb disagreement. The range is therefore present but not consistently controlled. Practise forming complete sentences with subordinate clauses, and check that each subject agrees with its verb before submitting.

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