Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-21

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)

Nowadays, an interest could be seen in many people regarding knowing the history of the house or the building they live in.

Many people are keen these days to know about the place, house or building they live in. This could be because of the many reasons such as, many believe the places they live in has its own vibe, which might also affect their lives. These vibes can be good or bad, it depends on the things and events they are linked with. For instance, if people were mostly ill that were living there before them, they might believe this had to do with the place and they could also fall ill if they continue living there.

Moreover, some are superstitious and believes in ghosts as well. Therefore, people would want to know about the place's history just to be rest assured nothing bad is associated with the house that could harm them in anyway.

In order to research about the place, there are a few things they can do. Firstly, they can ask around about house reputation and about the previous owners of the house. Secondly, before buying the house, they could cross check with the buyer about its history and regarding any negative past event that might have took place there.

Overall we can say, people all around the globe, want to feel secure in their houses, mentally as well as physically. Just to achieve this cause, they might want to know about the history of the house they are currently living in. And the surrounding people should cooperate them in learning the things about their house so they could peacefully live.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt, discussing reasons why people research their house's history, such as beliefs about 'vibes' or ghosts, and methods for researching it, such as asking around or talking to previous owners. However, the ideas are relatively basic and lack depth or well-developed examples. For instance, the example provided about people falling ill is somewhat simplistic and lacks broader societal context. Despite this, all parts of the prompt are covered, and a clear position is maintained throughout the essay. This places the response comfortably in Band 6, as it addresses all parts of the task with relevant, albeit somewhat under-developed, ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, dividing the introduction, reasons, research methods, and conclusion logically. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Moreover', 'Therefore', 'Firstly', and 'Secondly', though some of these transitions feel a bit mechanical or simplistic. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to structure the argument, but the referencing within sentences is occasionally vague, such as 'about house reputation' (missing an article). Progression is generally evident, moving from reasons to methods, though the transitions between ideas could be smoother. This performance aligns well with Band 6 descriptors for Coherence and Cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'superstitious', 'reputation', and 'cooperate'. However, there are notable lexical errors and awkward collocations throughout the text. For example, the student writes 'be rest assured' (instead of 'rest assured'), 'has its own vibe', and 'cross check with the buyer about its history and regarding any negative past event that might have took place there'. Furthermore, the opening sentence unnecessarily repeats phrasing from the prompt ('knowing the history of the house or the building they live in'). These inaccuracies do not impede overall communication, placing the vocabulary score firmly at Band 5.5 to 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures (e.g., 'if people were mostly ill that were living there before them'). However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('believes in ghosts' instead of 'believe'), tense errors ('might have took place' instead of 'might have taken place'), and missing articles (e.g., 'about house reputation'). Additionally, awkward phrasing like 'cooperate them in learning' demonstrates a lack of control over dependent prepositions. Because errors are frequent but rarely impede understanding, the grammar score is Band 5.5.

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