The best way to provide enough homes in large cities is to build tall apartment blocks. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Sample Response
Many large cities are facing a serious housing shortage, and tall apartment blocks are often presented as the main solutionanswer. Although high-rise buildings can provide homes for many people, I only partly agree that they are the best solution. Cities should also expand the supply of lower-density housingimprove lower-density housing and use land more carefully.
On the one hand, apartment towers have clear advantages in crowded urban areas. Land in city centres is expensive and limited, so building verticallyupwards allows a large number of families to live near workplaces, schools and public transport. This may reduce the need for people to commutetravel long distances from the suburbs. In addition, when many residents live in one building, services such as water supply and rubbish collection can be organised more efficiently. For young workers or small families, an apartment in a high-rise blocka flat in a tall block may be more affordable than a house.
However, relying too heavilymuch on this type of housing can create other problems. Very tall buildings may make an area feel overcrowded, especially if there are not enough parks, shops or medical facilities nearby. Some residents also prefer a small house because they need outdoor space for children or elderly relatives. If every available site is developed with high-rise blocksused for towers, cities can lose their local character and become less pleasant places to live. Furthermore, poorly managed apartment blocks sometimes have problems with noise, safety and communalshared areas.
In my view, high-rise apartments should be an important part of housing plans, particularly close to transport hubs. Nevertheless, local authorities need a mix of housing typesmixture of homes, including medium-rise buildings and renovated vacantempty properties. Building tall blocks alone can increase the number of homes, but it cannot guarantee a good quality of life for all urban residents.
Why this response received Band 8.0
The response is strongest in its consistently clear position and balanced, logically organised examination of both the capacity benefits and quality-of-life drawbacks of high-rise housing. Its main limitation is that some support remains general, particularly the claims about affordability and efficient services. The highest-priority improvement is to develop one or two central claims with more specific causal explanation or a concrete urban example.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The essay directly answers the question with a clear qualified position and develops relevant advantages, drawbacks and alternatives throughout.
Deepen the strongest claims with a concrete example or an additional causal step showing why a mixed housing strategy works better.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress logically through a clear four-paragraph structure, with cohesive devices and referencing used smoothly.
Make the relationship between the drawbacks paragraph and the proposed mixed solution even tighter through a brief explicit link.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a broad, natural range of housing and urban-planning vocabulary with generally precise word choice.
Increase specificity by replacing broad phrases such as 'other problems' with a more exact category of urban impact.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of complex structures is used accurately and flexibly, with consistently clear punctuation and agreement.
Continue refining style by varying the repeated conditional and modal patterns used to explain consequences.
Write this task while it is fresh
Try the same task now. It helps you remember the feedback and write better next time.
IELTS Writing Task 2
The best way to provide enough homes in large cities is to build tall apartment blocks. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.