Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-13

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In many places, new homes are needed, but the only space available for building them is in the countryside. Some people believe it is more important to protect the countryside and not build new homes there.

What is your opinion about this?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Around the world, cities are becoming highly congested and space for building new homes is often not available. While, numerous people believe that rural areas should remain untouched but that is the only optimal space left to construct new homes. In my perspective, rural areas should see some developments with proper execution of plans.

Firstly, countryside people are not happy with this movement to larger scale. Number of reasons include adapting to local environment. Often rural areas have farms with different type of farm vehicles which sometimes need to acces roadways. People those who will build homes in these rural areas might start complaining or may do not respect these slow moving vehicles.

However, the cost of living in the metropolitian areas is on the rise due to limited supply of rental homes and apartments. City of Vancouver is prime example of higher rents which is already holding more people then it should be. Which is why local government wants to expand much further towards countryside. Work from home presented people with another solution to shift out of major cities to reduce some of the unnecessary expenses. Additionaly, rural areas present low cost living not only in terms of rent but generally also have lower gas prices and buying dairy items straight from farmers will surely help all parties involved.

To conclude, development of homes out of metropolitian areas does benefit rurals areas significantly. Government could play crucial role in this movement by making awarness about respecting rural slow moving vehicles and everyone could live co-operation.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by presenting a clear position that rural areas should see some development with proper execution. The writer attempts to balance the need for new housing due to urban congestion against the preservation of countryside values. However, some ideas are under-developed or briefly stated. For instance, the counterargument concerning countryside residents and farm vehicles is introduced in the second paragraph, but the reasoning is slightly disjointed and lacks depth. Similarly, the points regarding remote work and the cost of living are relevant and well-directed toward the Vancouver example, yet they could have been expanded further to ensure a more thorough exploration of the prompt. Overall, the task is addressed with a discernible stance, corresponding to a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt at paragraphing, moving from an introduction to body paragraphs discussing opposing views and economic factors, and finally to a conclusion. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. Sentences such as 'While, numerous people believe that rural areas should remain untouched but that is the only optimal space left' exhibit awkward transitions and grammatical linking errors. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in 'Which is why local government wants to expand...', which starts a sentence with a relative pronoun incorrectly. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion within paragraphs could be significantly smoother to ensure logical progression throughout. This aligns with a Band 5.5 descriptor profile.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating topic-related terms such as 'congested', 'cost of living', 'rental homes', and 'metropolitan areas'. However, there are noticeable lexical and collocation errors throughout the text, such as 'countryside people' instead of 'rural residents', 'movement to larger scale', and 'making awarness'. Words are occasionally misused in terms of word form or collocation, for example, 'live co-operation' instead of 'cooperate' or 'live in cooperation'. Despite these inaccuracies, communication is not severely impeded, and the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning, placing it firmly at a Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety with structures like 'While, numerous people believe...' and 'Work from home presented people with another solution...'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and punctuation slips that detract from the accuracy of the text. Examples include fragment sentences ('Which is why local government wants to expand much further towards countryside'), missing prepositions ('expand much further towards [the] countryside'), and awkward phrasing like 'People those who will build homes'. Subject-verb agreement and article usage also need attention (e.g., 'City of Vancouver is prime example'). These frequent errors mean the response sits comfortably within the Band 5.0 range, where structures are attempted but often faulty.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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