Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-10-30

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)

In most countries around the world, village people are shifting to cities, declining the population in rural regions. In my opinion, it's not entirely a negative a negative development but it has few drawbacks which I'll discuss along it's positive effects.

Overall, this migration has a lot of benefits but conversely, it also has some drawbacks as well which cannot be ignored.

Talking of the positive side of this developments, I would say migrating from a rural area to a city has significant benefits. For instance, cities are more devloped than countrysides. They offer better facilities for education of children, following that cities has a lot of better health facilities. Urban ares are also better for employment opportunities, providing it's citizens a wide range of careers. Cities offer a lot easier life than vilages in some aspects. For example, it's always easier to find things that are not commonly available in villages. Because there are a lot of malls and convinient stores in cities than in rural areas. The infrastructre of urban areas is quite impressive which made the migration from countryside to urban areas a failry positive development.

Conversely this migration has also some drawbacks which are in favor of this migration being negative devlopment. Starting with the traffic in urban areas which cause a lot of issues such as environmental pollution and noise pollution. These issues can lead to health problems like headache, insomnia and fatigue. Rural areas do not have these problems because these areas are not overcrowded as urban areas are. In addition, the quality of food in urban areas is low than in countryside. People of urban areas usually know eachother which gives those areas a sense of community. Due to these reasons life in rural regions is less hectic than life in big cities.

To conclude, I would say both rural and urban areas have their own advantages as well as drawbacks. So, we cannot say that whether the migration of people from rural areas to cities is entirely a positive or a negative devlopment. It can bring both the advantages and also darwbacks in a person's life.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall6.0

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both sides of the development and give a clear overall view that migration has benefits and drawbacks. Relevant points include access to education, healthcare and employment, alongside congestion, pollution and weaker community ties. This covers the task, but the position is not fully decisive: the opening says it is “not entirely a negative” development, while the conclusion avoids saying whether it is positive or negative overall. Some ideas also need fuller explanation. For example, you mention that urban food quality is lower, but do not explain why this happens or how it affects people. To strengthen the response, state your overall judgement consistently and develop fewer points with specific explanations or examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. The contrast between the two main body paragraphs is easy to follow, and signposts such as “For instance,” “Conversely” and “To conclude” help guide the reader. However, some linking is mechanical or awkward, including “following that” and “Starting with the traffic,” and the introduction repeats the idea of drawbacks in two consecutive sentences. Some references are also unclear, as in “which gives those areas a sense of community,” where “those areas” could be more precise. Use transitions that express the exact relationship between ideas, and connect examples more smoothly to the point they support.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of vocabulary for the topic, including “employment opportunities,” “environmental pollution,” “overcrowded” and “sense of community.” These choices make the main ideas clear, and you attempt some less common terms such as “infrastructure.” However, spelling errors and imprecise or unnatural combinations reduce accuracy: “devloped,” “convinient,” “failry” and “darwbacks” are examples, while “village people” and “a lot of better health facilities” are not natural phrasing. There is also repetition of general words such as “areas” and “drawbacks.” Check spelling carefully and build more precise collocations, for example, “rural residents,” “better-equipped healthcare facilities” and “urban infrastructure.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a relative clause in “which cannot be ignored” and a reason clause beginning “because.” Most of the meaning remains understandable, but some grammatical errors occur across the response. For example, “cities has” should be “cities have,” and “which cause a lot of issues” needs agreement with “traffic” (“which causes”). The opening also contains the repeated phrase “a negative a negative,” and “whether … or” is awkwardly formed in the conclusion. Review subject–verb agreement, sentence boundaries and clause construction, then proofread for repeated words. More consistently accurate complex sentences would make your argument easier to follow.

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.