Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-01

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 6.0)

In most of the countries urban movement has been taking place from rural areas to the cities. Thus, population in villages is declining. In my opinion this should be considered as a negative development.

Generally, people want better standards of living like ease of access to daily necessities, nearby hospitals, smooth roads and job opportunities. Unavailability of these in rural areas can result in relocallization of people to the cities where they can find such standards. For instance, students relocate from their hometowns to cities where colleges and universities are ranked better. This helps them experience industry from these cities even after graduation, ultimately helping them with job placements. This results in decreased number of youngsters in the rural areas they may come from.

Furthermore, governments are not actively concerned about development of such areas. Moreover, there are no policies regarding urban displacement in most of the countries. This is mostly the issue of the developing countries. For example, in Pakistan, most of the population resides in the major cities like Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Faislabad, etc., making this part of the country overcrowded. However, most of the regions in Balochistan are least populated and what's concerning is that the governments are not taking the precise measures to control this urban relocation.

In conclusion, facilities like hospitals, schools, transport, etc., shall be made available in the backward areas. Proper measures shall be introduced to improve standard of living in these areas. Otherwise, the population in cities might increase to an alarming level resulting in uncontrolable conditions like some medical outburst or civil war.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by clearly stating a position that the rural-to-urban shift is a negative development. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others, which is characteristic of this level. For instance, the discussion on educational migration and subsequent job placement in the second paragraph is relatively clear and supported by an example. On the other hand, the points regarding government policies and overpopulation in Pakistan in the third paragraph tend to generalise rather than fully extend the argument. The conclusion introduces extreme potential outcomes like a 'medical outburst or civil war' that lack sufficient logical support from the previous body paragraphs, showing that while the main position is clear, the depth of extension varies across the essay.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear stance established in the introduction and followed by body paragraphs and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct ideas, such as standard of living factors versus government policies. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or features faulty referencing. For instance, transitional phrases like 'Furthermore' and 'Moreover' are used back-to-back without smooth integration, and the phrase 'such areas' in the third paragraph lacks an entirely clear antecedent, as the previous paragraph discussed rural areas generally while the current paragraph shifts toward developing regions. The progression of ideas generally makes sense, but the logical links between sentences occasionally feel abrupt, preventing a higher level of seamless cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'relocallization', 'overcrowded', and 'backward areas'. However, there are notable word choice, spelling, and word form inaccuracies that slightly hinder precision. For example, 'relocallization' contains a spelling error, and 'urban movement' or 'urban displacement' are slightly unnatural collocations for rural-to-urban migration. The phrase 'medical outburst' in the conclusion is also an imprecise collocation. Nevertheless, the vocabulary used is sufficient to communicate the main ideas clearly, and meaning is rarely obscured by these lexical slips.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at subordination and relative clauses, such as 'cities where colleges and universities are ranked better.' There are some errors in grammar and punctuation throughout the text, including article omissions and preposition issues, such as 'In most of the countries urban movement' (missing articles and commas) and 'uncontrolable conditions' (spelling within a grammatical structure). However, these errors rarely impede communication, and the majority of simple structures remain clear and accurate. The writer successfully balances basic sentence patterns with some multi-clause sentences, showing reasonable control over overall sentence architecture.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.