Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-09-30

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)

It is true that in many parts of the world, villagers are moving to cities, and as a result, the population in the countryside is decreasing. I think this is a mixed development.

On the one hand, there are some positives in this development, First, people who move to cities enjoy more opportunities in urban areas. For example, people get more income opportunities, can earn more money, send their children better schools, and get better medication and other emergency services. So, they can lead a quality life in city. Second, many companies and offices are suffering from employees shortages. Therefore, both companies and migrant workers benefit from this trend. Furthermore, their country also can benefit and develop economy. So, this development can be advantageous for newcomers and businesses.

On the other hand, this change has some negative outcomes. To begin with, many cities cannot cope this situation. Urban areas become crowded, air pollution, traffic jams, and so on. Food prices prohibitively expensive, and house rent become so high. Additionally, people become hungry, and homeless, in many cities like California, New York, and Dhaka. Moreover, villages remain empty and the authorities are not worrying about rural development. Rural areas stop developing, their people cannot get many facilities. Thus, negative situation can appear in this development.

In conclusion, people can lead a better life with many facilities such as income, school, medication, and other emergency services. So, newcomers and businesses can benefit. However, they are getting this life, at what cost? City become crowded, polluted, poverty, village areas remain empty.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the positive and negative aspects of urban migration, adopting a clear 'mixed development' position from the introduction. Ideas are presented for both sides, such as economic opportunities and improved medical services on the positive side, contrasted with urban overcrowding and rural decline on the negative side. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive, particularly in the conclusion where points are restated rather than synthesised. Furthermore, the inclusion of specific cities like 'California, New York, and Dhaka' as examples of hunger and homelessness is slightly inaccurate or awkwardly phrased, as California and New York are states, not cities. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, fitting the criteria for Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response is organised into clear paragraphs with an introduction, two body paragraphs representing opposing views, and a brief conclusion. Cohesive devices are used to signal progression, such as 'On the one hand', 'To begin with', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the sentence 'City become crowded, polluted, poverty, village areas remain empty' lacks proper conjunctions and structural parallelism. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate the contrasting arguments, and there is a discernible overall progression, even if the final summary is abrupt and lacks cohesive grace. This aligns well with the descriptors for a Band 6.0 score.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting some less common collocations such as 'emergency services', 'prohibitively expensive', and 'urban areas'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors throughout the text. For example, the student writes 'send their children better schools' (missing a preposition), 'employees shortages' (should be 'employee shortages'), and 'house rent become so high' (ungrammatical phrasing). Vocabulary is sometimes repetitive, as seen in the frequent reuse of words like 'facilities', 'better', and 'development'. While communication is not severely impeded, these inaccuracies and limited precision prevent the score from reaching the higher bands, making Band 6.0 the most appropriate descriptor match.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing subordinating clauses such as 'while', 'because', and relative clauses. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, including missing prepositions ('send their children better schools'), missing verbs ('many cities cannot cope this situation'), incorrect noun pluralisation ('employees shortages'), and subject-verb agreement issues ('house rent become', 'City become'). Punctuation and sentence structures occasionally break down, especially in the conclusion. Despite these errors, the meaning remains mostly clear to the reader, satisfying the criteria for a Band 6.0 performance.

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