Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-21

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 6.0)

Migration has been an immense part of evolution, where species travels from their existing habitat to more favorable conditions for their survival. Even in humans, the migration is done according to their needs and demands for example, from rural to urban for development or from urban to rural for retirement. Rural areas are usually calm, clean, and choasfree while urban cities are known for more oppurtunites, facilities and technologically advanced.

From ages, it can be pointed out that population residing in rural area move to urban cities for many reason. First and foremost reason is in order to develop financially as urban areas has more development oppurtunities , which means more ways of earning. Secondly urban cities also have residents from different places, which creates more possiblity for networking. Thirdly urban cities are technologically more advanced, with better transport and management that lures many people for migrating to cities.

However with population transferring from rural to cities , both rural and urban areas face the consequences. Primarily in rural areas, with less residents living, every existing business suffers loses. People can not grow after some extent. Apart from that, the overall development of rural area hinders as theres lack of habitants in that particular area. Moreover the migrating residents tends to overcrowd the city which results in price hike of accomodations and other resources. The overcrowding becomes unpredictable as the city plan can not assume the rate of migration, which eventually results in lack of services and mismanagement.

Overall, it can be concluded that shifting from rural areas to cities have both their pros and cons. Efforts to create balance should be implemented in order to minimize the detrimental effects and create harmony amongst the already exisiting residents and newly shifting people.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You discuss relevant reasons for rural-to-urban migration, including employment, networking and access to technology, and you identify consequences such as rural businesses losing customers and cities becoming overcrowded. However, the task asks you to decide whether this is positive or negative, and your conclusion says it has “both their pros and cons” without making a clear overall judgement. The opening also spends time on migration in general rather than directly establishing your view. Several points are asserted rather than explained—for example, how fewer rural residents hinder development, or why migration makes city planning unpredictable. State your position clearly in the introduction and support it consistently with specific explanations or examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph explaining reasons for migration, a paragraph describing consequences, and a conclusion. Sequencing within the second paragraph is easy to follow, with “First and foremost,” “Secondly,” and “Thirdly” guiding the reader. The contrast signalled by “However” also helps mark the shift to negative effects. This coherent arrangement meets the lower-band expectations and shows some stronger control, but cohesion is occasionally mechanical because several points are presented as a list. Some links between claims are not fully explained, and the conclusion does not resolve the discussion into a definite position. Develop clearer connections between each cause or consequence and your overall argument.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of topic vocabulary, including “financially,” “networking,” “overcrowd,” “resources,” and “mismanagement,” so the main ideas are generally understandable. However, the range is not always controlled, and noticeable spelling and word-choice errors weaken precision: “choasfree,” “oppurtunites,” “possiblity,” and “exisiting” are misspelled, while “every existing business suffers loses” uses an unsuitable form. Some expressions are also awkward or imprecise, such as “population transferring” and “more development opportunities.” Aim for accurate collocations and check spelling carefully; for example, use “residents move to cities” and “businesses suffer losses.” This would make your vocabulary more reliable and help express the argument precisely.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mixture of simple and complex sentences, including a relative clause in “which creates more possibility for networking” and a conditional structure in “in order to minimize the detrimental effects.” The overall meaning is usually recoverable, but errors in agreement, articles, verb forms and sentence construction occur across the response. For example, “species travels” should be “species travel,” “urban areas has” should be “urban areas have,” and “the migrating residents tends” should be “the migrating residents tend.” The opening sentence is also awkwardly constructed, and several sentences join ideas without consistently clear punctuation. Review subject–verb agreement and build complex sentences around a clear main clause; accurate control of these patterns would improve readability.

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.