Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-05

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)

People are moving to urban areas from remote areas in search of better facilities, in many countries, which is decreasing the population of rural areas. In my point of view, it have more negative implications than positive, such as, cities are getting congested and it is putting pressure on the urban infrastructure.

Too much unplanned shifting of people from rural areas into the cities are testing the structures of the cities. The increasing number of movement into urban areas are increasing the population of metropolitan cities. The residents in cities are facing issues like commuting, education facilities and accommodation, while, government do not get enough time to plan and cope with the increasing population. In Pakistan, over the past few years, mango trees were cut down to make new town for the peoples to live.

On the one hand, increasing urban population is affecting humans, on the other hand, its also affecting natural habitats. To settle the increasing population, governments are working on creating infrastructure due to such measurements cities are expanding into wild lands and cutting trees. Additionally, people in the rural areas are mostly farmers, so when they are shifted to city for better quality of life they leave behind the fields barren, which causes agricultural loss to the country.

I believe, the reason behind this mass migration is the unavailability of basic facilities and working relocation. In cities, there are much better facilities such as electricity, roads, education and health. Moreover, most of the companies and offices are in cities so people relocate close to their job destination to save money and time and commuting daily is sometimes not possible due to no public transportation and roads infrastructure.

In conclusion, It is negative development because it not only affects the life at cities but also at the rural areas. Furthermore, its putting pressure on cities to accommodate and facilitate such a mass relocation.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your response successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by taking a clear position that the rural-to-urban migration is a negative development. You present relevant ideas regarding urban congestion, infrastructure strain, loss of natural habitats, and agricultural decline. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others, which places your response at this level. For instance, while your point about urban infrastructure strain is supported with a specific local example from Pakistan involving mango trees, your exploration of agricultural loss remains somewhat concise and could be extended further with additional reasoning or consequences. To move into the higher bands, ensure that every main idea is thoroughly explored and supported with robust, fully articulated examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

Your essay demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear stance maintained throughout the response. You make use of standard cohesive devices and organizational markers such as 'On the one hand', 'Additionally', and 'In conclusion' to signal the direction of your arguments. However, cohesion is at times slightly mechanical or repetitive, particularly in how you transition between paragraphs. Paragraphing is used, but referencing within sentences occasionally lacks precision, such as vague pronoun use like 'due to such measurements'. To achieve a higher level of cohesion, you need to employ a wider and more flexible variety of cohesive devices while ensuring that referencing is consistently clear and natural throughout the text.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items and topic-specific terms such as 'metropolitan cities', 'natural habitats', and 'mass migration'. Communication is not impeded by your lexical choices, but there are some inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and word formation, such as 'working relocation' instead of 'job relocation', or 'measurements' instead of 'measures'. Spelling is generally acceptable, but occasional lexical slips prevent the vocabulary from feeling completely natural or precise. To improve your lexical score, focus on learning and accurately applying less common collocations and idiomatic phrases, paying close attention to the exact contextual forms of words.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

Your writing shows a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt to handle subordinate clauses and varied structures. There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, but they rarely impede communication. Examples of grammatical lapses include subject-verb agreement issues such as 'it have more negative implications' and pluralization slips like 'peoples'. Additionally, you have run-on structures and preposition errors within grammatical patterns, such as 'life at cities' instead of 'life in cities'. To reach higher bands, you need to increase your stock of error-free complex sentences and exercise greater control over basic grammatical agreements, articles, and prepositions.

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

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