Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-11-14
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 6.0)
In the most countries of the globe, people living across the country are decreasing because the migration of rural people to cities. This migration has both negative and positive impacts. Most of the positive impacts are related to the people and negative effects influence the environment. This essay will discuss both developments.
First of all, most of people move toward cities for the better opportunities. Cities provide a lot of facilities that are negligible in the rural areas. Better education, health facilities and career opportunities enhance and give postive motivation to the people for migration. Educational institutes such as schools, colleges and universities have high ranking regarding to others. Therefore, they provide quality education and enhance children and youth abilities. Health facilities also play an important role for the movement of people. In case of any illness or fatal disease people move toward cities for better care. This thing will become exhausting for them if they visit regularly. Therefore, they prefer cities for positive development.
On the other hand, when a lot of people travel for permanant living in cities they put adverse effect on the environment. First, city population become saturated and provided facilities are limited so it cause a lot of problems for them and the people living before. Second, when cities population increase it tends to increase in road traffic which impacts the air quality and causes air pollution. The main reason for negative development is that when most of farmers rural peple move to cities, their agriculture land remains empty which effect overall economical sector.
In conclusion, this approach has both negative and positive development on the environment and people. But I think that an equal opportunities and facilities should be provided to rural people for the balance population in the countryside.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 6.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
You address the question by presenting benefits of moving to cities and drawbacks for cities and rural areas, then conclude that opportunities should be balanced. The examples of education, healthcare, traffic and agricultural land are relevant. However, the task asks you to judge whether the development is positive or negative, and your position remains uncertain: you describe both sides but do not clearly state which overall effect you consider more important. Several points are also asserted rather than explained—for example, the claim that agricultural land being left empty affects the economy needs a clearer link or supporting example. State your overall judgement directly and develop the strongest reasons with specific consequences or examples.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5
The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs contrasting benefits and drawbacks, and a conclusion. Signposting such as “First of all,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” helps readers follow the main direction, and ideas within each paragraph are generally grouped by topic. This meets the lower-band expectation of coherent overall arrangement. To make progression more consistently clear, reduce formulaic transitions and connect each claim to its consequence more explicitly. For instance, the move from city facilities to people preferring cities could be linked more smoothly, while the final point about farmland would benefit from a sentence explaining how reduced farming affects food supply or employment. Clarify references such as “This thing” and “this approach.”
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “migration,” “career opportunities,” “air pollution,” and “agriculture land.” There are also attempts at more formal expressions, such as “adverse effect” and “economical sector.” However, the range is limited in places, and noticeable word-choice, collocation and spelling errors sometimes make the meaning less natural or precise. Examples include “most of the globe,” “positive motivation,” “permanant living,” and “economical sector”; “people living across the country” is also unclear for rural residents. Aim for accurate, natural combinations rather than formal-sounding phrases, and check spelling. More precise vocabulary for rural decline and urban pressure would help express your argument clearly.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including clauses introduced by “because,” “when” and “if,” and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, control is inconsistent, particularly in longer sentences, and errors in sentence structure, agreement, articles and verb forms recur. For example, “people living across the country are decreasing because the migration” lacks a complete, correctly formed cause clause; “city population become saturated” has agreement and article problems; and “it cause a lot of problems” does not agree with its subject. Some sentences also join ideas awkwardly. Practise building accurate subject–verb patterns first, then extend them with subordinate clauses. Proofread each sentence for a clear subject, a finite verb and correct agreement.
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.