Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-19

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 the modern world, many cities have improved infrastucture and advance modern technology. Rural people are moving to cities becuase they can access modern facilities, while the population in the countryside is decreasing in many countries around the world. If questioned, I firmly with the positive way because many cities can create job opportunities as well as some negative side. My position is elaborated furthur with reasons and examples.

To begin with, one of the main positive side is that rural individuals can move to another cities because they can access better educational facilitis and modern facilities. This is because people can recieve better treatment health facilities in the hospitals and there are more choises available to choose their oen studies. For example, wealthy city has become more influenced by people to live there.

Furthuremore, cities can create more employement job opportunities and local businesses. To explain, many individuals can start-ups new business and provide good services because raputable city has provided better quality life without comparing other cities. For example, cities allow people to share with festivals events and other activities with their other religions because they can aware of culture diviersity around the world.

On the contrary, this is a main factor of decreasing urbanisation population in the countrydise because cities have provided better quality of life but there are few problems such as pollutions, financial burdens, and damage natrual lifestyle. For example, countryside is more peiceful atmospher and stressful instead of city life.

To conclude, cities life are more encourage people to live there because they can access educational facilities, employment opportunities, and public transports, although sometimes,these facilities can be more stressful for the financial stability manage their lifestyle.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You take a clear overall position in favour of rural-to-urban migration, and you give relevant reasons, including access to education and healthcare and greater employment opportunities. However, the position is not consistently expressed: the opening says cities offer opportunities “as well as some negative side,” and the conclusion introduces drawbacks without clearly weighing them against the benefits. Several points are asserted rather than explained. For instance, the example about a “wealthy city” does not show how education or healthcare improves, while the discussion of festivals and cultural diversity is only loosely connected to employment. Develop fewer reasons with specific, relevant examples and explain why they make the change positive overall.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two paragraphs presenting benefits, a paragraph acknowledging drawbacks, and a conclusion. Basic signposting such as “To begin with,” “Furthermore,” and “On the contrary” helps identify the intended stages. However, progression within paragraphs is often difficult to follow because ideas are joined without clear logical links. The sentence about businesses and festivals, for example, moves from starting a business to sharing events without explaining the connection. Some transitions are also inaccurate: “On the contrary” suggests a direct contradiction, although the paragraph is adding disadvantages. Organise each body paragraph around one main point, then explain and illustrate it; use linking phrases only when their relationship is precise.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You attempt vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “employment opportunities,” “educational facilities,” “financial burdens,” and “cultural diversity.” These choices show an effort to discuss both benefits and costs. However, the range is limited and several spelling, word-form, and collocation errors make parts of the message difficult to interpret, such as “infrastucture,” “recieve,” “start-ups new business,” and “damage natrual lifestyle.” Phrases such as “better quality life” and “more peaceful atmosphere” also need more natural forms. Build accuracy by learning common topic collocations and checking spelling and word forms. Prefer clear, precise expressions over combinations that sound translated or are difficult to understand.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You use some longer sentence forms, including a reason clause beginning “This is because” and a contrast introduced by “although,” so there is an attempt to vary sentence structure. However, control is inconsistent, and errors in sentence construction, agreement, articles, and plurals occur frequently enough to make several sentences hard to follow. For example, “I firmly with the positive way” lacks a complete grammatical structure, while “one of the main positive side is” has agreement and number problems. The final sentence also combines several ideas in a way that leaves the relationship between facilities and financial stability unclear. Practise building accurate simple sentences first, then add subordinate clauses and check that each sentence has a clear subject and verb.

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