Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-11-12

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)

Nowadays, people are preferring to move to urban areas from the countryside; however, it comes with many drawbacks such as unemployement and not having a proper residence to reside living in the metropolitian place. The forthcoming paragraphs will explain the negative aspects of moving to city from rural areas along with relevant examples.

Community are shifting into the city in the search of a work or a job which is appropriate according to their skills but they are aware that there are already a shortage of an employement in the urban living which leads them to not having the proper work to do and even to earn their own food for living. To exemplify, a person came to city but unable to find the work for almost 6 months which results into not a proper three meals a day and even when he gets a job it is not as per his expectation.

Despite of having their own house in the countryside they travel to city where they are unable to find a clean and hygienic place to live, this eventually leads to serious health related problems which may cause disabilities or even death. For instance, a person is infected by the hepatitis virus which consequently results in liver failure.

In conclusion, rural people dreams to move to metro cities in illusion of better living but before doing that they need to do research regarding the place that they are planning to shift living behind their infinite memories of the countryside.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you consider rural-to-urban migration a negative development, and you give two relevant reasons—difficulty finding work and inadequate housing. The examples of someone remaining unemployed for six months and becoming ill help illustrate these concerns. However, the discussion is only partly developed: the employment example explains hardship, but the housing example jumps from poor living conditions to hepatitis and liver failure without showing how this outcome is connected or how common it is. The conclusion mainly advises people to research before moving rather than drawing together the wider effects of rural depopulation. To strengthen the response, explain consequences for both migrants and rural communities, and develop each example with a clearer cause-and-effect link.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two body paragraphs presenting separate disadvantages, and a conclusion. This makes the overall line of argument easy to follow. You also use signposting such as “To exemplify,” “Despite,” and “In conclusion” to show relationships between ideas. At times, however, these links feel mechanical or do not express the relationship precisely: “Despite of having their own house” introduces a contrast, but the connection to the following point about housing in cities could be clearer. Some sentences also contain several connected ideas, making the progression harder to track. Use clearer topic sentences and link each example directly to the claim it supports; ensure the conclusion reflects the main argument rather than introducing advice as its main focus.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “urban areas,” “countryside,” “shortage,” “hygienic,” and “health-related problems,” which helps communicate the subject. There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “the forthcoming paragraphs” and “consequently.” However, several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural, including “unemployement,” “metropolitian place,” “earn their own food for living,” and “shift living behind their infinite memories.” These expressions sometimes make the intended meaning less clear. Spelling errors such as “unemployement” and “metropolitian” also affect accuracy. Aim for natural, precise combinations—for example, “find employment,” “secure affordable accommodation,” and “move away from their rural homes”—rather than using elaborate phrases that do not fit the context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including clauses with “which” and “where,” and the main ideas can generally be understood. However, control is inconsistent, and errors in sentence structure, agreement, articles, and verb forms sometimes make the reader work to interpret the message. For example, “Community are shifting” has a subject–verb agreement problem, while “a person came to city but unable to find the work” lacks a complete, consistently formed clause. “Rural people dreams” also has incorrect agreement, and “Despite of having” uses an incorrect grammatical pattern. Practise building complete clauses with consistent tense, and check singular/plural agreement and article use. Shorter, accurately controlled sentences would make your examples clearer while you continue developing complex structures.

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