Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-03

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)

In contemporary societies, natives from rural areas are migrating towards the cities which has negative impact on population of countryside. This trend has positive and negative impact towards natives but it entirely depends on which side are you looking at either it's advantageous or drawback side. It has numerous advantages and disadvantages which are mentioned below the essay.

To begin with, let's have a look on reasons why individuals are migrating, it includes better education, healthcare facilities, also job opportunities. To explain, students are lacking advance education in rural areas due to the decreased technological advancement in these areas, digital libraries are in negligible numbers. In contrast, in cities digital library facility is available almost in every institute by which student developed their computational skills, thus students are contributing to the society.

When individuals are shifting towards cities the population is declining significantly. This trend impacts the city natives and countryside natives as well. When natives migrate to cities the cost of living would likely to be increased and sanitation issues are encountered by individuals. Moreover, due to migration, facilities of healthcare in the region are declined due to the less number of patient's and healthcare workers.

To conclude, the migration is due to better facilities like healthcare, education, and job opportunities, students are thinking to study in cities due to the better technological advancement in urban areas. In contrast, due to this trend of migration, it leads to the negative impact on healthcare facility in rural area due to lack of patients and healthcare provider.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the task only partially. While the student acknowledges both positive and negative impacts, the overall position is not always clearly sustained throughout the essay. The ideas presented are somewhat limited and under-developed. For instance, the introduction states that the topic has numerous advantages and disadvantages which will be mentioned below, but the body paragraphs focus heavily on education and healthcare without fully exploring the broader scope of rural-to-urban migration. To reach a higher standard, the writer needs to present a fully developed position, ensure all parts of the prompt are explored in greater depth, and provide well-supported arguments rather than repetitive generalizations.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay displays some organization, such as the use of transitional markers like 'To begin with' and 'To conclude', but there is no clear overall progression of ideas. Cohesive devices are sometimes inadequate, inaccurate, or used repetitively, such as the frequent reliance on 'In contrast' or 'due to'. Furthermore, referencing is not always clear, and paragraphing lacks a smooth logical flow; the third paragraph abruptly shifts between city and countryside impacts without a unified theme. To improve, the writer must ensure that sentences and paragraphs are linked more naturally and that each paragraph follows a progressive, logical line of reasoning.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to convey basic points about migration, education, and healthcare. There are noticeable lexical errors and awkward word choices that may cause some difficulty for the reader, such as writing 'natives from rural areas' instead of rural residents, or referring to 'less number of patient's'. The writer attempts some less-common vocabulary, such as 'technological advancement' and 'contemporary societies', but imprecise word forms and collocations appear frequently. To achieve a higher band, the student should expand their lexical range, pay closer attention to word formation, and ensure accurate collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response demonstrates a limited range of sentence structures, relying primarily on simple and repetitive complex forms. Attempts at complex sentences are often faulty, featuring frequent grammatical errors in articles, prepositions, plurals, and subject-verb agreement. Examples include phrases like 'which has negative impact', 'students are lacking advance education', and 'facilities of healthcare in the region are declined'. These errors and awkward phrasing cause frequent difficulty for the reader. To progress, the student needs to practice forming accurate complex sentences, monitor basic grammatical boundaries such as articles and plurals, and reduce the frequency of errors across sentence structures.

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