Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-03

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, it can be witnessed that in many nations citizens are leaving suburbs and migrating to urban areas, although it's a development as people will find a good quality of life. However I believe it's a negative development as it results in different challenges for individuals. Like competition in job market and many side effects for rural people like shutting down of small business.

As there are many demerits of this notion, one is that, if many people moves to cities than they will need a job and this will lead to a huge demand of employment then job markets will have shortage of jobs which leads to unemployment. For example, in developed countries like US, many citizens moves to cities and when they find no jobs as there are many more people looking for jobs then they become homeless.

Furthermore, this situation also have bad effects on rural areas and on people who lives there.Like many small business in different countries plays a crucial role in GDP, so if many people leave countryside then these small business will crash, as number of customers will decline. Thus it will effect society and GDP. For instance, in India many people from the west side like from suburbs of Maharashtra are leaving to have a career in cities but many small scale business like bangle making and crafting are being shut because of little customers or even no customers.

To conclude, as it's a development for different countries around the globe as it is beneficial in some aspects but it's a negative development as it can result in unemployment and many disadvantages for rural populace.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position that rural-to-urban migration is a negative development. The main ideas—job market competition and the decline of rural businesses—are relevant. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. The explanation regarding the US job market is a bit simplistic, and the connection between rural migration and GDP is stated but not fully explored. While the position is clear throughout, the arguments could be more nuanced to reach a higher band. The conclusion effectively summarizes the stance, though it repeats some of the earlier points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Furthermore', 'For instance', and 'To conclude', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions are mechanical or slightly repetitive. The referencing is generally clear, though the flow between sentences within paragraphs could be smoother. For example, the transition between the discussion of job markets and the example of homelessness is a bit abrupt. Overall, the paragraphing is appropriate, and the progression of ideas is logical enough to follow without difficulty.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express their ideas clearly. There are attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'urban areas', 'rural populace', and 'small scale business'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'shutting down of small business' (should be 'small businesses') and 'huge demand of employment' (should be 'demand for jobs'). The range is sufficient to convey meaning, but it lacks the precision and flexibility required for higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('many people moves', 'this situation also have', 'small business... plays') and article usage. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with some missing spaces after commas and periods. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the message, they are frequent enough to limit the score. More attention to basic grammatical rules and proofreading would significantly improve the accuracy of the writing.

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