Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-01

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)

I need to express my point of view regarding accommodating people in large cities. whether it is appropriate to build many stories tall buildings to provide them residence. Large cities are often industrial hubs in a country and people from across the country and sometimes across the globe reach and reside there for bread and butter. These cities not only accommodate their factories, industries and markets places but they need to create space for human resource to work in. keeping in view this point, the governments around the globe are buiding high rise buildings to accommodate people. This idea is successful because it allows vertical expansion and much of the space on ground can be saved for other purposes. At the same time there are challenges in buiding such high rise apartments in terms of cost and security. For such tall storey buildings governments need to be extra cautious regarding people security. These buildings often use liftsto move up and down so, these lifts should be regularly maintained to avoid and unexpected issue. Moreover special measures need to be taken to prevent fall risks. Other than this, these buildings should be earthquack proof to resist aginst such natural calamity.

The mentioned measures are important to take because we have seen the destruction caused by fall of high rise apartments. Everyone of us are familiar with the incident of 9/11 when an attack was executed on world trade centre. As a result, the world trade centre building was demolished but it is important that a nearby building that was not attacked was also fallen to the ground due to heat effects caused by the explosion.

So, it is important to take measures to facilitate people but at the same time measures should be taken for protecting their lives and health.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You present a relevant position: high-rise housing can save ground space, but safety measures are essential. The points about lifts, fall prevention and earthquake resistance show awareness of practical concerns, and the 9/11 example attempts to support your warning about building safety. However, the response only partly answers whether tall apartment blocks are the best way to provide enough homes. It does not clearly weigh this approach against alternatives, such as renovating existing housing or building lower-density developments, and the example is not clearly connected to residential housing. Develop the comparison and explain why your position follows from it. A more explicit, consistent statement of how far you agree would also make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable overall shape: it introduces the issue, explains the space-saving benefit, discusses safety concerns, and ends with a summary. Linking expressions such as “At the same time,” “Moreover,” and “So” help signal relationships between points. However, progression is limited because the main discussion is largely one continuous paragraph, followed by a short example paragraph and conclusion. Some links are mechanical, and the shift from housing provision to the World Trade Centre incident is abrupt. Group the benefits, drawbacks and final position into distinct paragraphs, and use clearer references to show how each example supports the argument. This would make the line of reasoning easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some topic-related vocabulary, including “vertical expansion,” “high rise buildings,” “security,” and “earthquake proof,” so the reader can understand the main subject. There are also attempts at less common expressions, such as “industrial hubs” and “natural calamity.” However, word choice and collocation are often inaccurate or awkward, including “markets places,” “reach and reside there for bread and butter,” and “fall risks.” Spelling errors such as “buiding,” “earthquack,” and “aginst” are noticeable and reduce control. Aim for precise, natural phrases and check spelling carefully. For example, describe people as moving to cities “for employment” and refer to “the risk of falls” or “earthquake-resistant buildings.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and complex sentences, including a reason clause in “This idea is successful because it allows vertical expansion” and a longer sentence beginning “The mentioned measures are important to take because…”. However, control is inconsistent, and several sentence boundaries and agreement patterns need attention. The opening begins with a fragment-like construction, while “Everyone of us are familiar” has a subject–verb agreement error; “a nearby building … was also fallen” uses an incorrect passive form. Capitalisation and punctuation are also uneven, for example after “cities.” and around “so” in the lift sentence. Practise building complete sentences and checking verb forms, agreement and punctuation 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.