Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

In numerous countires accross the world, countryside people are migrating to urban areas, due to which the rural area percantage of living people decreasing.

To began with, people shift accross the world for numerous reasons, some of them can have positive impact while some have negative impression on the development.

Those people whom live in rural areas migrate to urban areas for the opportunities. As we know that rural areas have not various things there; like lack of educational institutes, job opprtunities and hospitals etc. In my opion, it does not have negative impact because people going to cities learn skills which they can later teaches the people of their village which will have positive outcome as they do not have to shift from their hometown to learn the skills.

To lower the ratio of migration, government and NGO's can collabrate and invest in the production of the things rural people are shifting for. Altogether, they can work for the betterment of mankind that can reduces the risk of countryside population. For instance; making eductional insititues covers alot; like people will get the education in their hometown while those who were strugging for jobs won't have to move cities as they will earn their bread and butter by staying close to their loved ones.

In conclusion, while moving accross the world can have its own advantages and disadvantages, I belive it has positive impact on the development of the individial as they get the chance to explore and discover new things at the same time.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the task only partially, presenting a position that leans towards seeing the trend as a positive development, but the main ideas remain limited and under-developed. For instance, the writer mentions that people migrate for opportunities and can later teach new skills to their village, but this argument is not sufficiently extended or supported with specific examples. While there is an attempt to address the prompt, the reasoning is somewhat repetitive, particularly when discussing educational institutes and job opportunities. To move to a higher level, the writer needs to provide fully developed ideas with clear explanations and relevant supporting examples for both sides of the argument or a more thoroughly explored single position.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some basic organisation in the response, but it lacks a clear overall progression. Paragraphing is attempted, with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion, but the flow between sentences can be disjointed. Cohesive devices are used, but sometimes inaccurately or repetitively, such as the frequent transitions like 'To began with' and 'In conclusion'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, making it hard to follow the exact logical progression of the arguments. To improve, the writer should ensure that each paragraph has a clear central topic and that cohesive devices connect ideas smoothly without mechanical repetition, establishing a more natural logical flow throughout the essay.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited and minimally adequate for the task, containing noticeable spelling and word-choice errors that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. There are frequent spelling mistakes such as 'countires', 'accross', 'percantage', 'opion', 'collabrate', and 'individial'. Word choices are often basic or imprecise, such as 'countryside people' instead of 'rural residents' or 'rural populations', and 'things rural people are shifting for' rather than 'infrastructure and employment opportunities'. While the writer attempts some less common vocabulary, inaccuracies in word formation and collocation prevent the response from achieving a higher rating. Expanding the range of functional vocabulary and checking spelling carefully are key areas for improvement.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response demonstrates a limited range of grammatical structures, relying heavily on simple or awkwardly constructed complex sentences. There are frequent errors in grammar, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('the rural area percantage of living people decreasing'), incorrect prepositions ('shift accross the world'), and faulty relative clauses ('Those people whom live in rural areas'). Attempts at complex sentence forms are often flawed, leading to noticeable errors that can cause difficulty for the reader. To achieve a higher standard, the writer needs to improve sentence variety, ensure accurate verb forms and tense consistency, and eliminate basic grammatical slips by carefully reviewing sentence structures.

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.