Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-22

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 4.5)

I think it can be positive, people can move because of jobs, cities have many factories, business, office so people can improve their income and they can get better hospitals, schools, parks, and many fun activites, people can learn new skills in better center and for higher standard of living people get better electricity, internet, transportation, and entertainment and better lifesytle. It also can be negative because of overcrowded places, when millions of peoples move to cities, it become traffic jams, higher rents of houses and noisy, and also when farmers move to cities they produce less food and the villages become empty. Cities get all the developments, while villages stay poor. However, village life is peaceful because villages are not noisy and in the village people can get fresh air and rest of their minds, Also they can do pysical activites, and I peffer peaceful areas so I can get some rest.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The student attempts to address the prompt by discussing both positive and negative aspects of rural-to-urban migration, mentioning economic benefits and urban drawbacks such as congestion and agricultural decline. However, the response falls severely short of the required 250-word minimum, containing only 153 words. Consequently, the ideas remain heavily under-developed and lack the necessary extension, specific examples, and fully articulated position required for higher bands. While the writer briefly touches upon key themes, the brevity of the text prevents proper task completion, resulting in a score aligned with the lower band descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The entire response consists of a single, massive run-on sentence separated only by comma splices rather than being organised into coherent paragraphs. There is an absence of standard essay structure, with introduction, body, and conclusion mashed together. Although some basic logical connections can be inferred between the positive and negative points, cohesive devices are virtually nonexistent or misused (relying heavily on commas and basic conjunctions like 'and'). Progression is lacking due to the lack of distinct paragraphing and structural signposting.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is generally basic and repetitive (e.g., 'better', 'cities', 'people'). There are some attempts at topic-related terms such as 'standard of living', 'traffic jams', and 'pysical activites' (spelling error for physical). Word choice is often simplistic and lacks precision, reflecting a limited range appropriate for the task. Spelling and morphological errors, such as 'lifesytle', 'activites', and 'peffer', further constrain the lexical score, although meaning remains generally transparent despite these limitations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.5

The response is characterised by serious structural issues, predominantly consisting of a single, run-on sentence joined by commas rather than proper terminal punctuation or subordinate clauses. While there are some attempts at complex ideas, the grammar suffers from severe comma splices (e.g., 'I think it can be positive, people can move because of jobs...'). Control of punctuation is virtually absent. Frequent structural inaccuracies and a lack of varied, well-formed sentence types keep this criterion firmly in the lower bands.

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

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