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)

Around the world in many countries, people from countryside are migrating to urban. I believe this is a negative change which I will explain below in forthcoming paragraphs.

Focusing on the migrating patterns of the people from the rural zones, it happens because there are not more opportunities to live a sustainaible life. In other words, those who are from such areas do not have proper jobs and food to eat. For example, less government projects in these areas deprive them to move out in search of job opportinities. Thus without job they would not have food in their household to survive. The government should invest in rural lands to provide more opportunities to village people and to save the environment pollution.

Moreover, there are already people living in the urban places which makes hard for new people to adjust in such places. This means that those who are already living in cities are hardly making their life easier, and they do have issues in finding nice neighbourhood to live a good life. When migratory people try to merge in such setting, it makes hard for all to settle in the limited spaces. For instance, as per a newspaper article, cities are cutting trees and making more land available for people to make their residences. Therefore, living in congested cities is not promising to get a good lifestyle. Also, because of cutting down trees, and making land available for residencial buildings is affecting wildlife too.

In conclusion, moving to cities from countryside is not beneficial for everyone as cities nowadays are more and more inflating with people, and land is getting stretched by cutting trees and forests which is ultimately hazardious for both humans and wildlife.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position that rural-to-urban migration is a negative development. The ideas are relevant, focusing on the lack of rural infrastructure and the resulting urban congestion. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the argument regarding 'less government projects' is a bit vague, and the link between urban migration and environmental damage is mentioned but could be more thoroughly explored with specific examples. The response covers all parts of the task, but the depth of analysis is more characteristic of a Band 6, as some points are repetitive or lack sufficient supporting evidence to reach a higher level of sophistication.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'In other words', and 'Therefore' are used to link ideas. However, the use of these devices is sometimes mechanical or slightly unnatural, such as 'In other words, those who are from such areas do not have proper jobs'. Referencing is generally clear, but the flow between sentences occasionally feels disjointed due to grammatical inaccuracies. The paragraphing is appropriate, and there is a clear progression of ideas from the causes of migration to the negative consequences in cities.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the student to convey their meaning clearly. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'sustainaible', 'deprive', 'residencial', and 'hazardious'. However, there are several spelling errors ('sustainaible', 'residencial', 'hazardious') and some awkward collocations, such as 'migrating patterns' instead of 'migration patterns' and 'inflating with people' instead of 'overcrowded'. While the range is sufficient to discuss the topic, the frequent errors in spelling and word choice prevent the response from reaching a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'people from countryside are migrating to urban' (missing articles and incorrect word class), 'deprive them to move out' (incorrect preposition), and 'it makes hard for all' (missing object). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to be noticeable. The control over complex structures is inconsistent, and punctuation is generally functional but occasionally misused. A greater focus on subject-verb agreement and article usage is needed.

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.