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 recent time, many people are leaving behind their home town to reside in a city, some of the positive development includes quality of education and job opportunities. The number of population in the countryside is decreasing while the cities facing problems such as, inflamationof rents and pollution.

Firstly, the people around the globe are moving to cities for the education for their children, in cities students deal with real life issues and learn various skills which boosts confidence and make them independent. Another positice aspect is that a person can have access to various opportunities, where he/she can takeup an internship along with studies and can explore different opportunities. For example, a survey showed that students who has completed education in cities had more career choice when compared to the one's away from cities.

The drawbacks due to this relocation are leading towards overpopulation in cities and inflammation of rents, where even a small rooms are highly priced. Furthermore due to higher number of peple in cities the air and noise population has drastically increased. For instance, in a recent survey conducted by The Hindu showed that the rents are increasing at a alarming pace from the last 5 years.

In conclusion, I personally believe that cities create a space for the exploration of jobs and builds curiosity for new hobbies, but the drawbacks are too dire to ignore hence few steps can be taken where the government build infrastrucre with qualified professionals and employment for people residing there.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address the question by presenting both benefits of moving to cities and drawbacks, then conclude that the disadvantages are serious despite the opportunities cities offer. Education, career choice, overcrowding, rising rents and pollution are all relevant points, and the examples about students and rent increases help support them. However, the response does not make its overall judgement fully clear until the conclusion: the opening calls the move a positive development, while the final paragraph says the drawbacks are too serious to ignore. The discussion of education and employment is more developed than the countryside’s declining population or the proposed government response. State your position consistently from the introduction and explain more directly why the overall effects are positive or negative.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on benefits, one on drawbacks, and a conclusion. Sequencing words such as “Firstly,” “Furthermore,” and “In conclusion” help readers follow the main stages. However, some connections are mechanical, and the opening sentence combines several ideas without clearly showing how they relate. The shift from describing positive aspects to saying that cities face problems could be signposted more explicitly. Some references are also unclear, particularly “where he/she can takeup an internship,” which makes the relationship between opportunities and study difficult to follow. Use clearer topic sentences and link each example directly to the point it supports; this would make the progression more consistently smooth.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “job opportunities,” “overpopulation,” “air and noise pollution,” and “career choice.” There are also attempts at more formal phrasing, such as “relocation” and “drastically increased.” However, noticeable spelling and word-choice errors sometimes make the reader pause: “inflamationof” appears to be a misspelling and spacing error, “positice” is incorrect, and “inflammation of rents” is not the appropriate expression. Some phrases are also imprecise or unnatural, such as “a small rooms are highly priced” and “builds curiosity for new hobbies.” Aim for accurate collocations and check spelling carefully; more precise wording will make your ideas easier to understand and sound more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “opportunities, where he/she can takeup an internship” and a contrastive conclusion beginning with “but.” Most ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. For example, “students who has completed” has a subject–verb agreement error, and “a small rooms” has an article and plural mismatch. The opening also contains an incomplete or poorly connected sentence structure, while “the cities facing problems” is missing a finite verb. There are some punctuation issues, including the comma after “such as.” Review agreement, articles, and sentence boundaries, and make sure each clause has a clear subject and verb. Greater accuracy across these structures would strengthen the response.

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