Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-24

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 recent years, with the rise of technology many rural residents are moving to developed cities which lead to decrease in the population of rural areas. This essay will discuss the balance opinion about the positive and negative effects of this devellopment.

Due to less facities in countryside, many young people start moving to big cities for employment and high living standards. This approch showed a positive response at the beginning, while youth were in the search of jobs, government was planning to build better infrastructure to accomodate rising population of the city. The unskilled workers worked as labors and skilled people joined big companies to get better living standards. This movement turned to be a positive development for both rurlar and urban population. As urban population was increasing, agriculture sectors were neglected by their owners.

The major shift towards the cities, caused overpopulation and pollution in the city, while neglecting agriculture and cattles in the countryside. As young people do not prefer to work in rural area due to its low-living standards, a few people was left behind to take care of crops and cattles which caused decline in the rural economy. Most of the families are shifting to cities to work as a labor or househelp which automatically lowers the living standard; however, people failed to understand the importance of owned land and agriculture.

In my opinion, only skilled labor should be accomodate in the cities who can work in the industries and help companies to develop, otherwise unskilled labor should be called off from the cities and government should aware them about the importance of countryside.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the question by discussing both potential benefits and harms, and your view that the movement has become damaging is clearest in the final paragraph. Relevant points include employment opportunities in cities and the neglect of agriculture in rural areas. However, the position is not consistently clear: the introduction promises a “balance opinion,” and the second paragraph calls the movement positive before the next paragraph emphasises its negative effects. Some claims, such as the suggestion that only skilled workers should be accommodated in cities, are introduced without enough explanation or support. To strengthen the response, state clearly whether you consider the overall development positive or negative, then develop each main reason with a specific example or fuller explanation.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate body paragraphs and a concluding opinion. The discussion generally moves from reasons for migration to its consequences, and linking expressions such as “while,” “as” and “however” help connect ideas. However, progression is weakened by the shift from describing migration as positive in paragraph two to presenting it as harmful in paragraph three, without clearly explaining how the evaluation changes. Some sentences also combine several points, making relationships between them difficult to follow; for example, the sentence beginning “The major shift towards the cities” links urban pollution, neglected agriculture and rural decline at once. Organise each paragraph around one central claim and use clearer transitions to show how the points support your overall position.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “infrastructure,” “overpopulation,” “agriculture” and “living standards,” which helps communicate the main ideas. There are also attempts at more specific expressions such as “unskilled workers” and “rural economy.” However, noticeable spelling errors and inaccurate word choices reduce precision, including “facities,” “approch,” “devellopment” and “cattles.” Some phrases are also unnatural or unclear, such as “balance opinion,” “positive response” and “called off from the cities.” Aim to check spelling carefully and learn common collocations for migration and employment. More precise wording would make your argument easier to understand and help distinguish between the benefits and costs you describe.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, using clauses with “while,” “as” and “which,” and the overall meaning is usually understandable. However, errors in sentence structure and grammatical forms occur often enough to make some ideas less clear. For example, “which lead to decrease” needs a correctly formed verb and article, while “a few people was left behind” has a subject–verb agreement error. In “As urban population was increasing,” the article is missing, and “only skilled labor should be accomodate” uses an incorrect passive form. Some sentences also have awkward clause connections, particularly the sentence beginning “This approch showed a positive response.” Practise accurate agreement, articles and passive constructions, and review complex sentences for clear clause relationships.

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