Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-12

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)

It is true that indoor migration has increasingbly common in recent years. While this development has several advantages, it also has certain disadvantages.

On the one hand, the most significant positive development is that numerous individuals could fullfill their basic as well as additional needs. For instance, there are more job oppournities in cities, education sectors are more advance in urban areas. Likewise, better health facilities. In addition, some remote areas have no access of transportation which leads citizens walk for an hour for health services. Moreover, moving to cities has benefical to certain circumstances such as, they can improve their quality of life by generating income from start up business.

On the other hand, there are certain drawbacks of people migrating to cities which consequences decreasing of population in remote areas. For example, nowadays villages are empty due to lack of manpower. Consequently, resulting in villages turned into dense foreset and during summar season their is a high chance of forest fires which automatically affects enviroment with pollution. Having said that, growing urbanization in cities leads to several problems which are lack of accomodations, traffic management and unmanaged population. This makes cities unmanaged and it effects in tourisim .

To sum up, migration from one place to another has both benefits and drawbacks. However, I believe that disadvantages are more significants because it threds whole country by effecting their economy. The population of nation will disbalanced by rural people are moving to cities, whcih outcomes in countryside population decreasing and cities population increasing.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both sides of the development and give a clear final view that the disadvantages are greater. Relevant points include access to jobs, education and healthcare in cities, alongside rural depopulation and pressure on urban housing and traffic. However, some ideas are more fully explained than others: the benefits are illustrated with examples, while the claim that empty villages become forests and cause fires needs clearer explanation and support. The conclusion also introduces the country’s economy as a concern without showing how migration affects it. To strengthen the response, develop each main point with a clear cause-and-effect explanation and keep the argument focused on whether the overall change is positive or negative.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. This makes the argument easy to follow, and signposts such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “To sum up” help show the stages of your discussion. The sequence within paragraphs is generally logical, but some links are mechanical or unclear. For example, “Likewise, better health facilities” is a fragment rather than a connected explanation, and “Consequently, resulting in villages turned into…” does not clearly connect the cause and result. The final sentence repeats the population shift rather than adding a distinct concluding point. Use linking expressions selectively and make the relationship between each claim and its explanation explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You attempt a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “migration,” “manpower,” “quality of life,” “urbanization,” and “accommodations.” These choices show an effort to discuss both rural and urban consequences. However, spelling errors and inaccurate word combinations are noticeable and sometimes make the reader pause: examples include “indoor migration,” “oppournities,” “benefical,” “dense foreset,” and “threds whole country.” Some phrases are also imprecise, such as “education sectors are more advance” and “it effects in tourisim.” Aim for accurate, natural collocations rather than more ambitious wording: for example, use “rural-to-urban migration,” “job opportunities,” and “puts pressure on urban services.” Proofreading spelling and word forms would make your meaning clearer.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use both simple sentences and attempts at longer structures, including clauses introduced by “which” and “while.” This gives the response some variety, but complex sentences are not consistently controlled, and several sentence fragments interrupt the flow. “Likewise, better health facilities” lacks a main verb, while “Consequently, resulting in villages turned into…” combines structures incorrectly. There are also errors in verb forms, agreement and sentence construction, as in “education sectors are more advance” and “The population of nation will disbalanced.” Work on building complete sentences with a clear subject and verb, and check agreement and verb forms. For example, “The population will become unbalanced as rural residents move to cities” expresses the final idea more accurately.

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