Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-11-11

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 5.5)

It is true that in numerous country around the world, people who live in rural site, they are moving to urban site. For this reason the population in the countryside is decreasing. I believe that this is a partially positive development.

There are so many positive development facility people find when they came to cities. One possible facility is that, when rural students came to cities they find a lot of options for study and jobs. Example, they find delighted college or university to complete their graduation excellently with proper study. As a result, they after graduation they can achieve their dream jobs. Furthermore, they can earn their own money by doing part time job in cities and they achieve their ability to solve their financial problems.

According to the task, when people moved to cities the population in the urban site is decreasing. Despite the positive development moving in cities also have a negative development in countryside. To begin with, if people moving in the cities rapidly the percentage of countryside improvement is continuosly decreasing. Example, when all educated people leave their countryside home, the school, college, university building is decrease day by day and more people hugely leave their countryside. Moreover, when people needed their hospitality they will be did not find any suitable hospital. For good hospitality they also leave their countryside.

In conclusion, there are so many positive development people find when they leave their countryside. However, when they leave they also make harder for other people living in countryside and the population is decreasing rapidly.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear overall view that rural-to-urban migration is “partially positive,” and you include relevant benefits such as access to education, jobs and income, alongside drawbacks for rural services. However, the position is not fully sustained: the conclusion mainly repeats that there are positive effects and that rural residents face difficulties, without clearly weighing which side is stronger. Some supporting points are also unclear or insufficiently explained. For example, the claim that “the population in the urban site is decreasing” contradicts the task’s stated trend, and the discussion of schools and hospitals could explain more directly how migration affects those who remain. Develop the comparison and support each main point with a clearer cause-and-effect explanation or example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for benefits and drawbacks, and a conclusion. Linking expressions such as “Furthermore,” “To begin with,” and “In conclusion” help signal the stages of the argument. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow, and some connections are mechanical or unclear. The sentence beginning “According to the task” does not introduce a logical point, while “Despite the positive development moving in cities also have a negative development in countryside” does not clearly connect the contrast. References such as “they” and “this” can also leave the reader unsure which people or development is meant. Use topic sentences that state each paragraph’s main idea, then connect each example explicitly to that idea.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “rural,” “urban,” “population,” “graduation,” and “financial problems,” so the main subject is generally understandable. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are noticeably inaccurate, sometimes making meaning difficult to interpret. For instance, “rural site” and “urban site” are not natural ways to describe places where people live, and “delighted college” does not convey the intended idea of a good educational institution. “Hospitality” is also used where you mean healthcare or hospital services. Repeated use of “development” and “people” further limits precision. Build a bank of topic-specific collocations and check whether each word fits its context before using it.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentences, including clauses introduced by “when,” “if,” and “as a result.” However, the range is limited, and errors occur frequently in sentence structure, verb forms, agreement and articles, sometimes making the reader work to understand the point. For example, “people who live in rural site, they are moving” has an unnecessary repeated subject, while “when rural students came to cities” shifts tense and has an article error. In “the school, college, university building is decrease,” the subject and verb form do not agree, and the passive construction is incomplete. Practise building accurate basic sentences first, then add subordinate clauses while keeping tense and subject–verb agreement consistent.

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