Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-26

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 an increasing number of individuals are becoming interested of known about the hsitory of the house or building they live at present. This essay will discuss the reason for the interest and explain some ways that people can research about the history of their houses.

On the one hand, there are several reason why people want to known the history of their houses. Firstly, many people are naturally curious about past and want to understand how the home used by previous owners. They want to discover what time this building was construted and who lived there and what important events have happend there.Secondly, historicial buildings have cultural values, for example, a person who was living in a scotland dicover that the building where he lives belonged to a royal family of scotland, this increase the persons curiosity because that building gives stronger conncetion of their community.

On the other hand, one useful method of finding people can visit governemts building, libraries or visit historical archives, Where old documents and file were easily available. These records can find teel about the previous owners, contructed date and time of the house. Another effective method to talk with old individuals who lived in the neighbourhood because they known about past origin of the building. In addition, people can fiind some information through online websites because in contemporary society it provide vaulable exact information.

In conclusion, people are interested in the history of the homes and building because they think it is beneficial for their knowledge about the history . They can investigate the history from official records, local elderly peole and some online websites.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both the reasons for the growing interest in building histories and the methods people can use to research them. The ideas are relevant and clear, although they remain somewhat basic and under-developed. For instance, the reasons given in the second paragraph—curiosity about past owners and cultural value—are sensible, but lack deep elaboration or concrete real-world examples beyond a brief, hypothetical mention of Scotland. Similarly, the research methods mentioned in the third paragraph cover government buildings, archives, elderly neighbours, and online websites, providing a satisfactory answer to the second question. The position is clear throughout, and the structure of the essay follows the prompt requirements logically. To achieve a higher band score, the student should expand upon ideas with more detailed explanations and fully developed examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear chronological progression. The response is divided into four distinct paragraphs, including an introduction, two body paragraphs addressing each part of the prompt, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices and signposting phrases such as 'On the one hand', 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'On the other hand' are used to structure the text, although some mechanical usage is apparent. Referencing is generally clear, though occasional awkward phrasing affects the flow. For example, the sentence starting with 'one useful method of finding people can visit' contains a grammatical slip that momentarily disrupts cohesion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct themes, ensuring the reader can follow the writer's argument without difficulty. Overall, the organizational structure meets the requirements for a Band 6.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student displays an adequate vocabulary range for the task, attempting some less common words and phrases such as 'contemporary society', 'cultural values', and 'historical archives'. However, there are numerous lexical inaccuracies and word-form errors throughout the text. Examples include 'interested of known' instead of 'interested in knowing', 'hsitory' instead of 'history', 'construted' instead of 'constructed', 'happend' instead of 'happened', and 'peole' instead of 'people'. While these spelling and word-choice errors are noticeable, they do not impede overall communication. The writer manages to convey the main points clearly, but the frequency of these inaccuracies prevents the lexical score from reaching a higher band. More careful proofreading and a wider control of word formations would significantly improve this area.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and introductory phrases. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in tense usage, prepositions, and verb forms, such as 'how the home used by previous owners' (missing auxiliary/passive verb), 'a person who was living in a scotland dicover' (tense inconsistency and lack of capitalization), and 'where old documents and file were easily available' (pluralization error). Additionally, sentences like 'finding people can visit governemts building' display awkward syntax. Despite these frequent errors, the meaning is generally clear and communication is rarely impeded. The student shows an ability to form complex structures, but needs to exercise greater control over basic grammatical rules and punctuation.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.