Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-08-17

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, in many nations around the world, rural natives are migrating to cities. As a result, the population of rural areas is decreasing. In my opinion, it is a positive development because in urban areas they will get better employment opportunities, improvement in standard of living, good quality education and access to government facilties.

One compelling reason behind my agreement is that they can get better job opportunities in cities because in the rural areas jobs are not available to them. Even the jobs available in the rural market did not pay enough for their survival. For example, most of th jobs are of construction labourers and includes heavy work load. Moreover, by residing in cities they can improve the standard and way of their living which is not possible in the rural areas. With the assistance of employment, they can earn high salaries and can also save some amount for securing their future.

Furthermore, in developed areas like cities, they can also have an access to a better education which plays an essential role in their development. This is to say that, in urban areas their are schools which provides a quality education to the learners. In addition, by living in cities they can also get access to government facilities like hospitals, transportation facility for the public, and primarily clean water which they lack in villages. As these initatives are done for everyone in the country but rural people will not get much benefits of these schemes.

In conclusion, due to the migration of the rural population to the cities the population of the countryside areas is decreasing. But owing to this the rural people are getting advantages.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by clearly stating a position that rural-to-urban migration is a positive development. The main ideas—employment, standard of living, and access to services—are relevant and logically linked to the prompt. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat superficial. For instance, the mention of 'construction labourers' as an example of rural work is a bit narrow and does not fully capture the complexity of rural economic challenges. To reach a higher band, you should provide more nuanced analysis or specific examples that demonstrate a deeper understanding of the socio-economic impacts of this migration trend.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'One compelling reason', 'Moreover', and 'Furthermore' are used effectively to guide the reader through the argument. However, the paragraphing is slightly unbalanced, with the second and third paragraphs being quite dense compared to the very brief conclusion. Additionally, some transitions feel a bit mechanical. Improving the flow between sentences by using more varied referencing and avoiding repetitive sentence structures would help achieve a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the message to be conveyed clearly. You use some topic-specific terms like 'migrating', 'employment opportunities', and 'standard of living'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are instances of imprecise word choice, such as 'rural natives' (which sounds slightly unnatural) and 'assistance of employment'. There are also minor errors in collocation, such as 'have an access to'. To improve, try to incorporate more sophisticated synonyms and idiomatic expressions to demonstrate a wider lexical range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is always clear, there are several grammatical errors that persist throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues like 'most of th jobs are' (should be 'most of the jobs are') and 'their are schools which provides' (should be 'there are schools which provide'). Punctuation is generally functional, but the control over complex structures is inconsistent. Focusing on eliminating these recurring basic errors will significantly improve your score.

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