Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-29

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 6.5)

In this modern world, it can be seen in many countries that people of rural areas are migrating to cities. As a result, the population of urban cities are increasing in a surprising amount and vice versa, which I think is a negative development for a country as the opportunities in cities are getting competitive.

From the very start of industrialisation, the scopes of work in city areas are more than villages. Moreover, the benefits of health, education and transportation is considerably better in a city area. For this reason, people of rural areas have a tendency to move to a developed area and they are doing it for a long time. Thus, the population of countryside areas are decreasing significantly. Because of this, the opportunities of jobs are decreasing in rural areas. For example, there are many ghost villages in european countries like Spain, France etc. The government is facing serious problems restoring life to those villages.

On the other hand, the population of urban cities are increasing day by day. That's why, every sector is more competitive than ever. People are already facing a lot of problem due to this reason. For example, residents in Dublin pay more than 1000 euros for one room apartment. Cities like Bengaluru and Chennai are already facing shortage for fresh water. More than 1000 people are applying for a particular job in cities like Dhaka and Delhi. The problems are increasing day by day because of the population pressure. Governments are facing a lot of issues to solve the problems arising everyday for this reason.

Overall, I think people moving to cities are creating a large number of problems for governments. Proper long term strategies should be adopted to solve these problems and government should take steps to increase opportunities in rural areas so that people don't have to migrate.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

Your position is clear from the introduction: you regard rural-to-urban migration as negative, and the conclusion reinforces this view with a proposal to improve rural opportunities. You address both the decline of countryside populations and the pressures on cities, supporting your points with examples such as depopulated villages in Europe, housing costs in Dublin, and water shortages in Indian cities. This gives the response relevant support and a clear line of argument. Some claims, however, are broad or only briefly explained—for instance, the link between fewer rural residents and declining job opportunities, and the assertion that governments face serious problems restoring village life. Explaining the consequences and connecting each example more explicitly to your position would make the ideas more fully developed and precise.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay has a clear overall structure: an introduction states your view, the two body paragraphs contrast rural decline with urban pressures, and the conclusion summarises your position and suggests action. The progression is generally easy to follow, and signposts such as “For this reason,” “On the other hand,” and “Overall” help readers track the argument. To strengthen cohesion further, avoid relying so heavily on repeated links such as “because of this reason” and “day by day”; use more varied transitions or connect ideas through clearer cause-and-effect explanations. Some references are also imprecise: “this reason” can refer to several preceding points, and “they” in the second paragraph could be made more explicit. These refinements would make the flow less mechanical and more consistently controlled.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of topic vocabulary, including “industrialisation,” “competitive,” “ghost villages,” “population pressure,” and “long term strategies.” These choices help communicate the main ideas, and the examples make the discussion concrete. However, some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or repetitive, which limits precision: “scopes of work” is not a natural way to describe employment opportunities, “urban cities” is redundant, and “shortage for fresh water” uses an unsuitable preposition. “Surprising amount” is also vague in this context. Aim for more natural combinations and vary repeated terms such as “problems” and “opportunities.” Careful attention to spelling and capitalisation, including “European,” would also improve the overall control of vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including cause-and-effect clauses (“As a result…”) and a relative clause (“which I think is a negative development”). Most sentences remain understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. Subject–verb agreement is inconsistent in “the population … are increasing” and “the benefits … is”; use singular agreement with “population” and plural agreement with “benefits.” Articles and number also need attention in “pay more than 1000 euros for one room apartment,” while “people are already facing a lot of problem” has a plural-noun error. There are also awkward sentence constructions, such as “From the very start of industrialisation, the scopes of work … are more than villages.” Review agreement, articles, and sentence framing, while continuing to use varied structures.

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.