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)

All over the world the people are moving towards the big cities from small towns so the number of people is declining in the rural areas.

I think this is the negative development that the people are leaving rural areas and moving towards cities.

When the people start moving towards the cities so it can cause urbanization which leads to many problems like lack of facillities of unemployement, health, transport etc. Forexample In Islamabad the people is migrating from different cities that make this city over crowded. Nowadays there is a lot of problems here in Islamabad like the transport, so the people can wait for hours to take a bus to go to offices, schools etc so there is a lot of burden on the transport there people can face lot of delays and time wastage if we take a look on the health sector the hospitals numbers are same but the people number are increasing so the facillities is declining day by day in health sectors, Moreover one of the biggest issue is unemployement which is increasing day by day.

Those people who leaves the rural area the main cause is to catch the better oppurtunities, mostly skilled workers migrate to big cities when these skilled person came to cities so there is a loss of new generation in a sense of skill. Forexample in Swabi region if there is some problem happened in health machines they sent these machines to Rawalpindi to repair because there repairs is only done here.

In conclusion, the migration from the rural areas towards cities is very negative development due to the loss of facillities in rural areas and over crowding in cities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear from the beginning: you consider rural-to-urban migration a negative development, and the conclusion restates this view. You give relevant reasons, including overcrowding and pressure on transport and health services in Islamabad, as well as the loss of skilled people from rural communities. The examples make the response specific and address the question. However, the effects on rural areas are less fully explained than the problems in cities. The Swabi example suggests a shortage of repair skills, but the link between migration and this shortage could be made clearer. Develop each main point with a fuller explanation of its consequences to make the argument more complete and persuasive.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction and position, a paragraph on urban pressures, a paragraph on rural skill loss, and a conclusion. Ideas generally follow a sensible order, and examples are placed alongside the points they support. However, some connections are mechanical or unclear. For instance, “When the people start moving towards the cities so it can cause urbanization” combines two linking patterns, while “Moreover” introduces another issue without a clear transition from the health-sector point. The long Islamabad section also contains several ideas in one sentence, making the progression harder to follow. Use clearer sentence boundaries and more precise links between cause, example, and consequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant topic vocabulary such as “over crowded,” “skilled workers,” “rural areas,” and “health sector,” which helps communicate the main ideas. However, the range is limited and several word-choice, collocation, and spelling problems are noticeable. Examples include “facillities,” “unemployement,” “oppurtunities,” and “the people number,” as well as the unnatural phrase “loss of new generation in a sense of skill.” Repeated use of “people,” “cities,” and “problems” also makes the expression less precise. Build a bank of accurate topic phrases, such as “public services,” “employment opportunities,” and “a shortage of skilled workers,” and check spelling and collocations when editing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including clauses of reason and time, as in “Those people who leaves the rural area the main cause is to catch the better oppurtunities.” This shows an effort to express relationships between ideas, but some sentence structures are faulty and make parts of the argument difficult to follow. There are also errors in agreement and sentence construction, such as “the people is migrating,” “the hospitals numbers are same,” and “the facilities is declining.” Several long sentences run together, particularly in the Islamabad example, and need clearer punctuation or division into shorter sentences. Practise subject–verb agreement, articles, and building complex sentences around one clear main clause.

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