Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-08

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In some countries, more and more people are becoming interested in finding out about the history of the house or building they live in.

What are the reasons for this?

How can people research this?

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

Student answer (Band 5.5)

In certain countries, people have became more interested to finding their history of the house or building they live in. This is mainly due to curious to know about the past of their house. There are several methods where people can research the past history by old neighborhood, online archieves and from government office.

The main reason people are becoming interested to know about their past history of house is due to curiosity. There are many reason people want to know about their house because people have to check whether the people who are living before me are the famous people or not. If it is famous person then people will be happy due to the history of their house. People also want to know because the people have done proper maintenance or not and also want to know much the house is old. People want to know history of house before buying because to confirm the original document and the house is affected by flood and landslide and also there are negative thing happen in the past.

There are several methods where people can research the history of house. First of all, ask from the local government when the building is register and built. You can also know from the online article and social media as there are many past photo of house are uploaded. People can also find from the old newspaper and also asked from the old neighbors about the person who lived before them. You can also find the old document from the department of housing as they shows who has built the house and how old the house.

In conclusion, this is mainly due to curiosity to know about the history of house. There are several methods where people can do research by asking neighborhood, using online website and from local government.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses both questions: it gives reasons for researching a property’s past and suggests several research methods. Curiosity is identified as the main reason, and the discussion adds relevant motives such as checking previous ownership, maintenance, age, and possible flood or landslide damage. The methods—local government records, online sources, newspapers, neighbours, and housing documents—are also pertinent. However, some points are less fully explained: for example, the possibility of a famous former resident is mentioned without an example or further development, and the reasons sometimes become unclear. To strengthen the response, explain how each motive matters to residents and illustrate one or two research methods with a specific example. The response also includes nine words copied from the task prompt; these are not counted toward the response length.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay has a clear overall arrangement, with an introduction, a paragraph on reasons, a paragraph on research methods, and a conclusion. This helps the reader follow the two parts of the task. Basic signposting such as “First of all” and “In conclusion” is used appropriately. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes weakened by repeated phrasing, especially “People want to know,” and by lists of ideas that are not clearly connected. The conclusion largely repeats the introduction rather than drawing the main points together. Some references are also unclear, as in “the people who are living before me.” Use a wider range of linking expressions to show relationships between ideas, and make each paragraph develop its points in a more deliberate order.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the main ideas, including relevant terms such as “maintenance,” “original document,” “flood,” “landslide,” and “department of housing.” However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or repetitive. For instance, “interested to finding” and “past history” are not natural expressions, while “online archieves” contains a spelling error. Repeated use of “house” and “know” also makes the writing less precise. Aim to use more accurate phrases for property research and vary the vocabulary where possible. Careful proofreading of spelling and word forms would make the meaning clearer and help the response sound more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple and longer sentence forms, and its main meaning is generally understandable. However, control is inconsistent, particularly in verb forms, agreement, articles, and sentence construction. Examples include “people have became,” “There are many reason,” and “when the building is register and built.” Some longer sentences become difficult to follow, such as the sentence beginning “People want to know history of house before buying,” which combines several ideas without clear grammatical links. Work on forming accurate past and present perfect verbs, matching singular and plural subjects, and using articles consistently. Breaking complex ideas into shorter, complete sentences will also improve accuracy while you build confidence with more varied structures.

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

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