Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-09-18

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)

In India, population has been increasing day by day. So, new houses are needed for people but in cities there is no space for building homes. The only space which is available for making new homes is in the countryside. Some people say that it is very important to protect this space. I completely agree with this view and this essay will explain my reasons.

On the one hand, due to modern cultural trend families dont live together. Everyone is living in the neuclear family. So, more homes are required. Additionally, due to high population more spaces are needed. So, it is helpful for people if new buildings are build on the available space so that everyone can have their home and they can live peacefully.

On the other hand, countryside is very important is recent times. This spaces provide clear air and this are less polluted areas from where we can get fresh oxygen and it improves our respiratory health. This spaces provide mental peace because of the environment. The environment of this places is very calm and relaxing. We can see so many trees in a open space and birds which can reduce stress, anxiety and mental fatigue compared to large cities. Additionally, these places protect wildlife habitats, forest, and natural watersheds that balance the global climate.

Furthermore, more open land encourages outdoor activies like walking, farming and gardening. So, if we use this places for industrialisation then we will not be able to explore these places and we will not be able to save and protect the environment friendly places and more pollution will be increase.

In my opinion, the countryside plays an important role to improve physical and mentale health so we should not use this places and rather we can make highrise buildings in cities so that people can live there.

In conclusion, we should save these precious places for our future and do not use these for making new homes.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the need for new homes and the importance of protecting the countryside, clearly stating a position in agreement with protection. The ideas are relevant, noting nuclear family trends and the environmental, mental, and physical benefits of open spaces. However, the development of ideas leans towards repetition, particularly when describing the benefits of the countryside such as calm environments and reducing stress. While a clear position is maintained throughout, the ideas could be extended with more specific examples rather than repeating similar health and environmental points. This places the response comfortably in Band 6, as it addresses all parts of the prompt with relevant ideas, but some points lack deeper extension and development.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement and follows a logical paragraph structure, using standard transitions such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion'. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate introduction, body arguments, opinion, and conclusion. However, cohesion at the sentence level is sometimes mechanical or faulty, as seen with repetitive cohesive phrases ('Additionally, due to high population...', 'Additionally, these places protect...'). Furthermore, referencing is not always clear, with frequent vague pronoun usage like 'This spaces' and 'This places' where plural forms ('These spaces', 'These places') are required. Progression is present, but the overuse of certain transitional structures keeps the cohesive management at a Band 6 level.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common terms such as 'industrialisation', 'respiratory health', 'watersheds', and 'mental fatigue'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including 'neuclear' instead of nuclear, 'activies' instead of activities, 'mentale' instead of mental, and frequent grammatical number agreements such as 'This spaces' and 'this are less polluted'. While these errors do not impede overall communication and the vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning, the persistent inaccuracies in spelling and collocation prevent the response from achieving a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing conditional structures ('if we use this places for industrialisation then we will not be able to explore') and relative clauses ('birds which can reduce stress'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors in tense, pluralisation, and prepositions, such as 'new buildings are build' instead of built, 'population has been increasing', and recurring demonstrative agreement errors like 'this places' and 'this spaces'. Punctuation is generally acceptable, and while these errors are frequent enough to prevent a higher score, they rarely impede communication, aligning the response with the Band 6 descriptors.

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