Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-08-16

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)

There is a growing trend in the world that rural poulation is migrating to the urban areas and which contributes to the decline of population in rural area. In my perspective, it should be regarded as a negative trend as it carries many disadvantages.

On one hand, the urban migration is indispensable because people tend to move by seeking a better standard of living. Compared to the coutryside, the city life is very promising in terms of healthcare, and other sophistictaed amenities. It potentiallly provides easy access to these basic needs hence become an underlying cause of this phenomenon. Furthermore, the employment opportunities are very high in cities, which acts as another significant factor that promotes the rural migration to the cities.

Having said that, the major issue of this movement of people is the drastic decline of contryside population. Apart from that, the economic activities in the rural areas are the backbone of every country as it produce food, dairy and other essantial items. The migration causes labour shortage to this industries. In addition to this, people abandon their private farming lands before moving to the cities. These lands pose a severe threat to the self sufficiency of the country as it do not participate in the economic process.

In summary, the movement of people from rural to urban areas creates more damage than declining of the rural population. Although it is an indispensable movement seeking a better quality of life,it severely impairs the economic activities of the country and slow downs the progress towards self-sufficiency.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position that the migration is a negative development. You have identified key reasons, such as the loss of agricultural labor and the threat to food security. However, the development of ideas is somewhat uneven. While you acknowledge the 'indispensable' nature of urban migration in the second paragraph, the transition to the negative impacts in the third paragraph is a bit abrupt. To reach a higher band, ensure that the counter-argument is more effectively integrated into your overall argument rather than appearing as a separate, slightly disconnected section. The conclusion is clear but could benefit from a more nuanced summary of the main points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized into paragraphs, each with a clear focus. You use some cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'Having said that', and 'In addition to this' to link ideas. However, the flow between sentences is occasionally mechanical, and some transitions feel slightly forced. For instance, the link between the second and third paragraphs could be smoother to better reflect the contrast between the benefits of city life and the drawbacks of rural depopulation. Paragraphing is used appropriately, and the overall progression of the argument is easy to follow, despite these minor issues with cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'indispensable', 'sophisticated', and 'self-sufficiency'. However, there are several spelling errors, such as 'poulation', 'coutryside', 'sophistictaed', and 'essantial', which slightly detract from the professional tone. Additionally, some word choices are slightly imprecise, such as 'these lands pose a severe threat', where 'abandoned lands' would be more accurate. To improve, focus on proofreading for spelling and aim to use more precise collocations to express your ideas with greater clarity and sophistication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, which is appropriate for this level. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'it produce food', 'it do not participate') and article usage (e.g., 'the urban migration', 'the city life'). While these errors do not impede communication, they are persistent throughout the text. To achieve a higher band, you should focus on ensuring that your verbs agree with their subjects and refining your use of articles. Increasing the variety of complex structures while maintaining accuracy will also help elevate your score.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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