Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 18 · 2026-11-01
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)
It is an undeniable truth that many individuals migrate from undeveloped areas to main cities for better opportunities and growth. As a consequence the population deline in villages. Few people assume that its better for personal and academic growth.However other thought countryside provide us more natural and fresh products.I completely agree that moving to huge cities are benificial for us due to well known hospitals as well as better educational institutes.Nevertheless main cities create more stress and frustration as compared to small cities. so it depends on person to person and their thinking.
One the one hand,there are numerous benifits migrating from rural areas to main cities. First and foremost it gies us the greater opportunity to do work with professional peers as well as we earn a lot. this way the dooors of opportunities are open for us e also interact with experienced or well known persons.For instance when we work with international and better companies we improve our personal habits and experience different languages and variety of data. As a result we support our family in a straightforward way without any difficulty related to unemployment also predict more succuess in future.Furthermore main cities have better an well maintainted educational institutes, professional instructurs. Nowadays many courses that how to manage our finance are held in country side accedmies where student learn a lot and emplemnt positive habits on it.Personaly when i migrate from backward village to islamabad i know the reality of living in massive cities and exceptional opportunities.
On the other hand, with positive points there are few drawbacks ofd living in big cities. Firstly we don,tfeel fresh air as well as traffic congestion which is the main hurdle living in main cities. Also we purchase anything for eating or drinking these products are not totally pure. For examples in villages we feel fresh air and enjoy our life without any stress with friendly environment. Moreover we live our whole life in cities only for better opportunities and ingnore our personal feeling and rest. Actually in cities we live like a strangers infact we don,t know our neighbours thats why e ignore our emotion and lose the opportunity to spend our leisure time with older people .As a consequence we only live life also ignore our main feeling for survival .
To pen down the whole discussion, migrating from rural area to main cities provide us a better opportunity for well known ecucational institutes.better hospitals as well as variety of job opportunities.however city life is full of stress and congestion it can,t provide a time to enjoy life. I completely agree that moving to main cities is beeter decision for personal growth. while it balso have some drawbacks
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
You address both sides of the development and state a clear overall view: moving to cities is beneficial for personal growth, despite stress and congestion. Relevant support includes access to hospitals, education and employment, alongside concerns about pollution, social isolation and reduced leisure. Your personal example of moving to Islamabad also helps make the response relevant. However, some points are asserted rather than explained: for example, the discussion of finance courses in rural academies is unclear and does not directly support the main argument. Develop fewer points with clearer cause-and-effect reasoning, and make the conclusion’s position more precise, since it acknowledges drawbacks but does not weigh them against the benefits in detail.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0
The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. This makes the main direction easy to follow, and signposts such as “On the other hand” help distinguish the two sides. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical, with repeated transitions such as “Furthermore,” “Moreover” and “As a consequence.” Some sentences also contain several ideas joined together, making their relationships unclear; the passage about employment, family support and future success is one example. Improve progression by grouping related points, using clearer sentence boundaries, and making references explicit. The conclusion repeats earlier claims rather than bringing the comparison together.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
You attempt vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “traffic congestion,” “professional peers,” “educational institutes” and “personal growth.” These choices show an effort to express ideas beyond basic everyday language. However, spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable and sometimes make the meaning difficult to interpret, as in “population deline,” “dooors of opportunities,” “succuess” and “ingnore.” Several phrases are also unnatural or imprecise, such as “better an well maintainted educational institutes” and “live like a strangers.” Build accuracy by checking spelling and learning common collocations for migration, employment and urban life. Prefer clear, natural wording over ambitious phrases whose meaning is uncertain.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
You use both simple statements and attempts at longer, more complex sentences, including contrast with “Although”/“On the other hand” ideas and cause-and-effect links. The overall meaning is generally recoverable, but some grammatical errors recur. Examples include subject–verb agreement in “moving to huge cities are,” missing articles in “provide us more natural,” and incomplete or poorly joined sentences such as “so it depends on person to person.” Punctuation and sentence boundaries are also inconsistent, particularly where several clauses run together. Practise checking agreement, articles and complete sentence structure, then use full stops to separate distinct ideas. More accurate control of these patterns would make your varied sentences easier to read.
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.