Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-07

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 many countries around the world, villiagers migrating to cities, which has led to a decline in the rural population. I think this is a positive aspect for country but it has also some nagetive aspects as well.

In the world wide nations, many people who lived in villages or rural areas had migrate to cities or urban areas for some reasons. In rural areas, there is less facilities and opportunities for people. The main reason behind this aspect is, cities offer better oppotunities for a good and a high quality life. There are high standard schools and hospitals for their citizens. There is a better education system in cities instead of rural areas. There are many hospitals with high quality machines and surgical equipments. People have access to these facilities easily in urban areas. In cities, there are a lot of job opportunities for young people. When young generation migrate to cities they can get many good options for their future. Their parents who lived in villages can live their lives easily . They do not have to face financial difficulties in their lives. Many young generation came to cities for higher education such as MBBS and Engenering.

There are also some disadvantages of it. The population in the countryside decreased day by day. Many young people moved to urban areas for some aspects. By that, their parents have to live alone. The rural areas are in the state of underdevelop. Farming can have bad affect by this. It has also bad impacts on food production because there are less people for farming. Villages cannot grow without young generation. The schools in the villages had closed because of less population.

To conclude, rural to urban migration is a positive trend as it offer better opportunities and improve living standards.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you consider rural-to-urban migration positive overall, while acknowledging disadvantages. You address both sides with relevant points, including access to education, healthcare and jobs, as well as the effects on farming, food production and village schools. However, the positive case is developed more fully than the negative one, and some claims need clearer explanation. For example, the link between young people moving to cities and their parents avoiding financial difficulties is asserted rather than explained. The conclusion restates your view but does not bring together the main reasons. To strengthen the response, explain the consequences of each point and support them with a specific example, while keeping your overall position consistent.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph explaining benefits, a paragraph on disadvantages, and a concluding statement. This makes the main line of argument easy to follow. You also use basic signposting such as “There are also some disadvantages” and “To conclude.” However, connections between some ideas are not fully clear. For instance, the sentence about parents living more easily follows the discussion of young people’s job opportunities, but the relationship between these points needs explaining. Repeated references to “cities,” “rural areas” and “young people” also make the flow somewhat mechanical. Use clearer linking and referencing, and organise each paragraph around a central point with supporting explanation.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “urban areas,” “job opportunities,” “food production” and “higher education.” There are also attempts at more specific terms, such as “surgical equipment.” However, spelling errors and inaccurate word choices are noticeable, including “villiagers,” “nagetive,” “oppotunities” and “Engenering.” Some phrases are also unnatural or imprecise, such as “high standard schools” and “bad affect by this,” which can make the reader pause. Build accuracy by checking spelling and learning common collocations as complete phrases. A more varied, precise vocabulary would also help you avoid repeating general words such as “good,” “bad” and “many.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, and the overall meaning is generally understandable. For example, you use a relative clause in the opening and give reasons with “because.” However, some errors in verb forms, agreement, articles and sentence construction remain. Examples include “had migrate” instead of a correctly formed past construction, “the population … decreased day by day,” and “as it offer,” where the verb does not agree with its subject. The opening sentence also lacks a complete main clause after “which.” These errors do not usually prevent understanding, but they reduce accuracy. Practise checking subject–verb agreement and tense consistency, and revise complex sentences to ensure each has a clear, complete structure.

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