Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-02

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 7.0)

In many countries, more and more people are leaving rural areas and moving to cities, which is causing the population of countryside to decrease. Although this trend can provide people with better employment and educational opportunities, I believe that it is mainly a negative development because it can weaken rural communities and put too much pressure on urban areas.

One major advantage of rural-to-urban migration is that cities usually offers more employment opportunities. In rural areas, people often depend on agriculture, which can provide limited and unstable income. By moving to cities, they can find jobs in industries, offices, shops and other sectors. In addition, urban areas usually have better educational institutions and healthcare facilities, which attracts many young people from villages. For example, a young person from a remote village may move to a nearby city to attend university and later find a professional job there. Therefore, migration can improve the standard of living of individuals and their families.

However, the large-scale movement of people to cities can creates serious problems. When too many people leave the countryside, there may be a shortage of agricultural workers, which can affect the food production. Rural communities can also become smaller and less economically active, particularly when young people leaves in search of better opportunities. At the same time, cities may struggle to accommodate a rapidly growing population. This can lead to overcrowded housing, traffic congestion and increasing pressure on public services such as hospitals and public transport. For instance, many developing cities already experience serious traffic and housing problems because their infrastructure have not expanded as quickly as their populations.

In my view, although moving to cities can be beneficial for individuals, the overall trend is negative if it occurs on a large scale. Governments should therefore invest in rural areas by improving schools, healthcare, transport and employment opportunities. If people can find decent jobs and essential services in their local communities, they will have less reasons to leave the countryside.

In conclusion, rural-to-urban migration can provide people with better career and educational opportunities, but excessive migration can damage rural communities and create considerable pressure on cities. A more balanced development of both rural and urban areas would be a better solution.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.5

The response addresses all parts of the task thoroughly, presenting a clear position throughout that rural-to-urban migration is mainly a negative development. The student successfully extends and supports relevant ideas, such as examining both the employment benefits for individuals and the broader socioeconomic consequences for rural and urban areas. For instance, the discussion on agricultural worker shortages and urban infrastructure strain is well-developed. However, to reach the highest bands, the arguments could occasionally be pushed further with even more precise global or regional examples rather than generalized hypotheticals, fully avoiding any tendency to over-generalize.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.5

The essay demonstrates clear logical organization and progression throughout. Each paragraph has a distinct focus, moving smoothly from the introduction to the advantages, the disadvantages, a nuanced personal view, and a concise conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'Although', 'In addition', 'However', and 'At the same time' are used flexibly to connect ideas, and paragraphing is managed appropriately. To achieve the highest band, referencing and transitions could occasionally be even more seamless, ensuring that logical links between sentences never feel formulaic and instead display complete structural subtlety.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.5

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, successfully conveying meaning and attempting some less common items such as 'socioeconomic', 'infrastructure', and 'accommodate'. There is a sufficient range to allow for some flexibility and precision when discussing urban pressures. However, there are a few noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and phrasing, such as 'cities usually offers' (subject-verb agreement/lexical control), 'can creates' (word form), and 'less reasons' instead of 'fewer reasons'. These occasional slips prevent the vocabulary from reaching a higher level of style and precision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

The writing contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating control over subordinate clauses and conditional structures, as seen in 'If people can find decent jobs... they will have less reasons to leave'. There are some persistent grammatical errors, including 'population of countryside' (missing article), 'young people leaves' (subject-verb agreement), and 'infrastructure have' (plural/singular mismatch). While these errors do not impede communication and allow the text to flow, they demonstrate that error-free sentences are not frequent enough throughout the entire response to attain a higher band.

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