Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-11-10

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In many countries around the world, rural people are moving to cities, so the population in the countryside is decreasing.

Do you think this is a positive or a negative development?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 5.0)

In many areas arround the world, rural people are moving to cities which increases the urban population and cause decline in the countryside population. This has bad impact on both the urban side and countryside.

In my opinion, the migration of the countryside people to the cities cause several issues on both side, for example, shortage of food, education and rental problem on the urban side while shortage of labor on countryside etc.

The increase in population on the urban side, cause major problem like food stortage, rental places and education. We all know that the most of food was grown on countryside and if people move to urban side, this cause the shortage of labor on the village and lead to less food production. The other issue is rental place, which increases as the population on urban side increases. The education issue also increases because the majority of the countryside have less literacy level. This gives rise to slums areas and results crimes.

Furthermore, the job shortage become common on urban side which leads to crimes like killing and robbering. The uneducated and jobless person take wrong ways to fulfill their needs and sometime die with hunger. The diseases also spread on the urban side as countryside people don't have money and education to cure diseases.

In my opinion, the movement of the rural people to the urban areas has more disadvantages as compared to the advantages. So I think, this is a negative development on the urban side.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

You give a clear overall view that rural-to-urban migration is negative, and you identify relevant effects, including pressure on food supply, housing, education and employment. However, the response addresses the task only partially: the position is narrowed to disadvantages “on the urban side,” with little consideration of effects on rural communities or any possible benefits. Several claims, such as migration causing crime and disease, are asserted rather than explained or supported with a specific example. The response also falls 8 words short of the 250-word minimum; the 8 words copied from the task prompt were not counted. To strengthen the response, develop two or three central reasons with clear cause-and-effect explanation and a relevant example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic paragraph structure: it introduces a position, gives several supporting points, and ends with a conclusion. Linking expressions such as “Furthermore” and “So” help signal relationships between ideas. However, there is no clear overall progression because food, housing, education, crime and disease are listed in quick succession, with some points repeating the same general claim about urban pressure. The second paragraph previews several issues, but the later paragraphs do not develop them in a consistently organised way. Some connections are also unclear, particularly the link between low literacy in rural areas and “slums areas.” Group related points into focused paragraphs and use explicit explanations to show how each example supports your position.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main concerns, including “shortage of labor,” “food production,” “slums” and “job shortage.” However, the range is limited and several words or phrases are repeated, especially “urban side,” “issue” and “shortage.” There are also noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, such as “arround,” “stortage,” “robbering” and “rental places,” which can distract the reader. Some combinations are unnatural, including “die with hunger” and “take wrong ways.” Aim for more precise collocations and vary your terms for rural and urban areas. Proofreading spelling and choosing standard expressions would make your meaning clearer and more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a relative clause in “rural people are moving to cities which increases…” and a conditional structure in “if people move… this cause…”. However, the range remains limited, and errors occur frequently in agreement, articles, plurals and sentence construction. For example, “migration… cause” should use a singular verb, while “This cause” and “the job shortage become” also need agreement correction. Articles are missing or misused in phrases such as “the most of food” and “on countryside.” Commas also interrupt sentences unnecessarily, as in “population on the urban side, cause.” Practise checking each sentence’s subject and verb, and build accurate complex sentences before adding further detail.

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