Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-13

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 a few countries, more and more people are becoming curious to know about the history of the house or building they reside in. Many people do this because they want to know who lived in this building previously, and whether there was any famous personality. Mostly, the residents check this out by looking at the past owners history and whether there was any other thing here before the construction of their building.

Residents of a certain society are always interested in the history of their houses, and there are some obvious reasons for this. Firstly, they may think that there could be a celebrity who lived here, and they think that this will increase the value of their property. For instance, many Bollywood celebrities were living in a private society in the early 2000s, and then moved to the Porsche area of Mumbai; therefore, they sold their houses to locals, which subsequently increased the value of their property. Secondly, people research this so that they can tell their friends that their house is 20 or 30 years old just for showing off and feeling proud.

A lot of people research this by visiting a nearby land record office where they can check the history, and they can also see the previous owners of their house. In this modern era, governments have introduced digital land record apps as well, where we can see the data online. In Pakistan, for example, the Punjab Government has introduced a new digital method to check land records by visiting the Punjab Government's website. Many countries still have the old British-era land record system, which was written in notebooks.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by explaining both the reasons why people are interested in the history of their homes and how they can research it. In the body paragraphs, the student provides reasons such as the potential presence of celebrities increasing property value and the desire for social prestige. Additionally, the methods of research are clearly outlined, mentioning land record offices and digital apps with a relevant example from Pakistan. While some ideas like showing off are slightly conversational in tone, the task is fully covered with relevant supporting examples, aligning well with a Band 6.5 to 7.0 profile.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure separating the introduction, reasons, and research methods. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'For instance' are used to guide the reader through the points. However, referencing is occasionally repetitive, and some transition between sentences feels slightly mechanical, particularly in the introduction. Paragraphing is used appropriately, but overall progression between the introductory summary and the body paragraphs could be smoother to achieve a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'celebrities', 'property value', and 'digital land record apps'. There are, however, some notable lexical inaccuracies and inappropriate collocations, such as 'Porsche area' instead of the intended 'posh area', and 'past owners history' instead of 'history of past owners'. Spelling is generally accurate, and vocabulary errors do not impede communication, placing the response solidly in the Band 6 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating control over basic structures and attempting complex sentences with relative success, such as in the sentence 'Residents of a certain society are always interested... because they may think that...'. There are some grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as 'were living in' instead of 'lived in' and missing articles or pluralisation issues. Punctuation is generally sound, and errors rarely impede communication, earning a Band 6.0.

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