Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-27

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 5.0)

Many people argue that country side area people are now shifting to cities so the number of citizens living in rural area is dropping. I believe that it is having a negative impact as pollution and traffic in cities is now increasing.

The government of countries that have overlooked the development of rural area were people live and earn money through agriculture. They lack communication services and also do not have access to many household essentials. Furthermore as the economy is facing severe oil crisis today their harvest also earn less as they spend much more now on transport cost. All of these factors force countryside residents to migrate towards cities. As the population in country side decreases the number of farmers and crops they grow also declines and the agriculture sector faces severe crisis.

This shift is causing congestion in cities and the number of vehicles on road also increases which leads to noise and air pollution. In country like Pakistan whose most of economy depends on agriculture is currently facing this situation as climate change severe drought and sometimes flood has caused many farmers to lose their fortune they are now moving to cities in order to get better employment opportunities and as the crops production declines the prices are above an average persons reach.

In conclusion, the shift that we today observe is lack of attention of government towards problems that farmers in these areas are facing. I believe this change in population is having negative impact as many have to leave memories of their foster parents behind to move to a new place.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing the negative impacts of rural depopulation, such as agricultural decline, urban congestion, and pollution. A clear position is established in the introduction and maintained throughout the essay. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and lacks sufficient depth. For instance, while the essay mentions that the agricultural sector faces a severe crisis due to climate change and transport costs, the argument could be extended with more specific examples. The reference to Pakistan is relevant, but it remains somewhat generalized. The main body paragraphs cover multiple points—push factors, agricultural decline, and urban congestion—without fully developing each one. Therefore, the response aligns best with the Band 6 descriptors, as it addresses all parts of the task with relevant ideas, but some points are under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. However, the logical progression is occasionally disrupted by mechanical or absent cohesive devices. For example, the transition between sentences within paragraphs can be abrupt, such as shifting from oil crises to harvest costs without clear signposting. Paragraphing is attempted, but the grouping of ideas is somewhat fragmented; the second paragraph is quite long and crams multiple distinct ideas—government neglect, communication services, oil crises, transport costs, and agricultural decline—together. Referencing is sometimes unclear, such as ambiguous pronoun use in phrases like "were people live." Cohesive devices are used sparingly and sometimes inaccurately. Overall, these issues place the essay firmly at Band 5, as there is some organization and paragraphing, but overall progression is faulty and cohesion is inadequate.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, touching upon relevant themes such as "agriculture," "pollution," "congestion," and "employment opportunities." However, there are noticeable limitations and inaccuracies in word choice and word formation. For example, the student writes "country side area people" instead of "rural residents" and "crops production" instead of "crop production." Spelling errors and awkward collocations, such as "above an average persons reach," occur throughout the text. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect a limited ability to use less common lexical items accurately. Consequently, the vocabulary falls into the Band 5 category, demonstrating a minimally adequate range with frequent noticeable errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but the structures are frequently marred by grammatical errors, punctuation omissions, and run-on sentences. For example, the sentence "The government of countries that have overlooked the development of rural area were people live and earn money through agriculture" contains a major grammatical breakdown and a homophone error ("were" instead of "where"). Another instance is the lack of punctuation in complex sentences, which makes them difficult to parse, such as "In country like Pakistan whose most of economy depends on agriculture is currently facing this situation..." Frequent errors in subject-verb agreement, article usage, and prepositions cause regular difficulty for the reader. These characteristics correspond to Band 5, as the range of structures is limited and attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty.

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

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