Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-13

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 different countries around the worldwide, individual moving from rural to urban areas, while the population in the countryside is decline rapidly. I strongly believe this is not a positive development moving from towns to cities.

People are moving to cities, so the population in the countryside is decreasing rapidly this is beacuse of not getting the same facilities as cities had. Peoples are moving for better opportunities and wants to avail all the facilities in cities. This not only happens in Pakistan but all over the world, in where individuals are moving from rural to urban cities because there were more facilities such as jobs, healthcare facility and higher educations system easily as compared to smaller towns. Additionally, in the countryside there were no such facilities for individuals so they were moving to cities.

In my opinion, government should take action regarding this and provide all the facilites to rural people so they not moving to cities. In countryside population is decreasing while in urban areas population is keep on increasing dramatically. This will cause many issues such as overpopulation, pollution, enemployment and traffic problems. For example, in my own hometown people are moving from rural to urban areas for their bright future. In Rawalpindi, city of Pakistan traffic is increasing rapidly because of overpopulation in city. In 2026, research shows about 60% of the individuals are moving rapidly from towns to cities.

In conclusion, different countries around the world, people are moving from small towns to cities for better opportunities meanwhile the population in countryside is decreasing rapidly.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You give a clear negative view in the opening and return to the movement from rural areas to cities in the conclusion. Relevant reasons include access to jobs, healthcare and education, and you identify possible urban consequences such as overcrowding, pollution and traffic. However, the position is only partly developed: the essay mainly explains why people move, rather than fully explaining why the resulting decline in rural populations is negative. The Rawalpindi example supports the traffic point, but the claim about 60% of people moving is not explained or connected clearly to your argument. The response is 247 words, three words below the 250-word minimum; the 13 words copied from the prompt are not counted. Develop the effects on rural communities and support examples more clearly.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

Your response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion. The ideas about facilities and urban problems are broadly grouped in relevant paragraphs, and linking expressions such as “Additionally,” “For example” and “In conclusion” help signal relationships. However, progression is not consistently clear. The first body paragraph repeats the point that people move for facilities, while the second shifts between government action, population trends, several urban problems and statistics without developing a clear sequence. Some connections are also awkward, such as “so they not moving to cities,” and the conclusion mostly repeats the opening rather than drawing the argument together. Organise each paragraph around one main claim, then explain and illustrate it, using references and transitions more precisely.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant topic vocabulary, including “rural,” “urban,” “opportunities,” “overpopulation” and “pollution,” so the reader can follow the general subject. There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “higher education system” and “bright future.” However, the range is limited and several word choices, forms and spellings are noticeably inaccurate, sometimes making the meaning less clear. Examples include “around the worldwide,” “facilites,” “enemployment” and “in where.” Some phrases are repetitive, particularly “moving from rural to urban” and “facilities,” and “healthcare facility” is not a natural fit in the plural list. Build a wider set of accurate collocations for migration and rural development, and check spelling and word forms carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentences, including a cause-and-effect structure in “People are moving to cities, so the population in the countryside is decreasing.” However, complex attempts are often faulty, and frequent errors in verb forms, agreement, articles and sentence boundaries can make reading difficult. For example, “individual moving” lacks a correctly formed verb, “the population … is decline” uses the wrong verb form, and “This will cause many issues” follows a sentence fragment beginning “In countryside population…”. The sentence about facilities also shifts between past and present forms (“had,” “were,” “are”). Practise building accurate sentences with one main clause and a clearly connected supporting clause, and check subject–verb agreement, tense consistency and articles before adding complexity.

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.