Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-18
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 many countries, many peoples are becoming more interested in uncovering the history or background of the house or building they live in. This trends is mainly driven by the curiosity and desire to understand the the historical background of their homes, while govenment or local records can help them research their history.
Firstly, a growing trend that more people are interested or curious in uncovering the history of their home or building bring several benefits. People able to develop sense of belonging for their home after learning about the everyday lifes or history of the former occupants. It gives their living space the tangible identity and help creates emotional bridge to the past. Furthermore, learning the history of their home allow them to indentify structural materials that use to build their house or building. This allow them to understand the original structure design and helps determine how well the structure can handle modern renovation, repair or extreme weather like tornado or earthquake.
On the other hand, people can research the history or background of their home through offical government records or local library archives. People can go to government building department to access the records of their home
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses both parts of the prompt, identifying reasons for interest in house history and suggesting research methods. However, the essay is significantly under the 250-word minimum, which severely limits the development of ideas. The reasons provided, such as 'sense of belonging' and 'structural identification', are relevant but remain underdeveloped due to the lack of length. Furthermore, the response ends abruptly in the second body paragraph, failing to provide a conclusion or a fully fleshed-out explanation of research methods. Because the response is only 199 words, it fails to meet the basic length requirement, which negatively impacts the overall task achievement score.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay uses basic cohesive devices like 'Firstly' and 'Furthermore' to signal progression. However, the logical flow is interrupted by the incomplete nature of the text. Paragraphing is attempted, but the final paragraph is truncated, which disrupts the overall structure. Referencing is sometimes unclear, such as in the phrase 'This trends is mainly driven', where the pronoun 'This' lacks a clear antecedent. While the ideas are generally sequenced, the lack of a concluding paragraph and the unfinished state of the second body paragraph prevent the essay from achieving a higher score for coherence and cohesion.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. There are several word-choice errors, such as 'everyday lifes' (should be 'everyday lives') and 'indentify' (spelling error). The student uses some relevant terms like 'tangible identity' and 'structural materials', which show an attempt to use more sophisticated language. However, the limited length restricts the opportunity to demonstrate a wider range of vocabulary. To improve, the student should focus on accurate word forms and collocations, as well as expanding their range to include more academic terminology.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The response contains frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('This trends is', 'learning... allow them'), missing articles ('the the historical', 'develop sense of belonging'), and incorrect verb forms ('materials that use to build' instead of 'used to build'). While there is an attempt to use complex sentence structures, these are often marred by errors. The range of structures is limited, and the frequency of errors is high enough to be noticeable throughout the text. Improving basic sentence construction and proofreading for subject-verb agreement would significantly enhance the quality of the writing.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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