Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-28
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)
Humans have always been interested about Their origins. Additionally, living in a place for a long time may develop curiosity about its history. This may lead to the exploration of the building's experiences over the past.
Families develop bonds with their houses and decorate them. Whenever a family leaves, their marks remain with the building. For instance, how someone grew up in that place marking their heights on the walls or some broken leftovers that signify past experiences. Furthermore, how the building was furnished by the previous owners. All This can develop interest about the history of the house; what it's been through, the kind of climate changes it had faced and whether it was loved and taken care of.
In order to satisfy curiousity, people can come into contact with previous owners, asking them about their experiences. Moreover, they may reach out to their neighbors, and the professionals in real estate. This can result in improved connections and more affection towards their homes. This also proves to be helpful in evaluation of dangers that one may encounter there for example, a burglary that took place in the past or weather conditions that affected some exterior of the house and thus implementing precautionary measures.
In conclusion, history of houses can be endearing to some and informative to others. This exploration can play a vital role in further experiences of new comers.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses both parts of the prompt by discussing the reasons why people are curious about their home's history and outlining research methods. However, the word count is 231 words, which fails to meet the minimum requirement of 250 words. As a result of this under-length penalty, the task cannot be fully or comprehensively developed. While the ideas regarding emotional bonds and contacting previous owners are relevant, they remain somewhat brief and under-developed due to the strict length constraint. If the student had expanded on these points to surpass the 250-word threshold, a higher band would have been achievable.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay displays a generally clear overall progression, dividing ideas into logical paragraphs addressing the reasons, research methods, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used to connect ideas, such as 'Additionally', 'Furthermore', and 'Moreover'. However, referencing and transitions are at times a bit mechanical or simplistic. For example, 'All This can develop interest' and starting multiple consecutive sentences with similar subject structures detract from the flow. Paragraphing is present and mostly appropriate, but paragraph two is slightly cluttered with multiple sub-points about physical traces and climate changes that could have been better separated for clarity.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, with some attempts at less common phrasing such as 'precautionary measures' and 'endearing'. There are a few word choice and spelling inaccuracies, such as 'curiousity' (curiosity) and 'new comers' (newcomers), alongside minor awkward collocations like 'contact with previous owners' instead of 'contacting previous owners'. Despite these minor slips, the vocabulary successfully conveys the intended meaning without impeding communication, fitting the Band 6 profile well.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and participial phrases (e.g., 'marking their heights on the walls or some broken leftovers that signify past experiences'). There are some grammatical errors and awkward phrasing throughout, such as 'Humans have always been interested about Their origins' (incorrect preposition and capitalization) and 'affect some exterior of the house'. Punctuation errors are also present, such as missing commas in complex lists. Nonetheless, the meaning remains clear throughout the response, and communication is rarely impeded by these errors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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