Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-30
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 this modern epoch, an unprecedented number of individuals are keen to know the history of the house they live in. This essay will discuss some of the reasons for this trend and also the methods to research about their house
Talking about one of the reasons for this trend, many individuals like to know about their house or building to find out whether their house is one of the historical houses or they also want to know the past owners so they can identify if there lived any popular personality or not. If there lived any popular person they would feel proud about it as they believe their house has helped him to be popular Considering one more reason of the trend, people nowadays like to renovate their house to make it look advance. While doing so, they would like to know the actual design of their house and also know whether there lies something beneath their house or not. If something precious is found to be present under their dwelling, they would try no to destroy it and excavate it before renovating the house.
To research about the house, individuals can contact the municipality of their town or the gram panchayat affiliated with their residence; as these organizations may have the data about who owned the house back then or there are any historical monuments or structures under the house as they have old maps of the town or village
To recapitulate, there are mainly 2 reasons for this trend, one is whether the house is connected with historical importance or not and the second one is to find whether the house was a part of the journey of any famous person or not. To carry on research on their house, one can contact local administrative bodies affiliated with their residence
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, discussing reasons why people research their house history (historical significance, famous past owners, renovation preparation) and how they can research it (contacting local municipal authorities or village councils like gram panchayats). The main ideas are relevant and generally supported, though some points, such as the idea that a house made a person popular, are a bit simplistic and under-developed. The position is clear throughout, and all parts of the task are covered, fitting comfortably into the Band 6 descriptor range where relevant ideas are presented, although some are slightly underdeveloped or rely on generalisations.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing separating the introduction, body points, and conclusion. However, cohesion within paragraphs is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the second paragraph connects ideas with somewhat repetitive phrases such as 'Talking about one of the reasons' and 'Considering one more reason'. Furthermore, referencing and punctuation are lacking in places—most notably missing periods at the ends of paragraphs. Paragraph progression is logical overall, moving smoothly from reasons to methods, but the mechanical transitions keep it at a Band 6 level.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'unprecedented number', 'municipalities', 'excavate', and 'administrative bodies'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'look advance' instead of 'look modern' or 'advanced', and 'try no to destroy it' (typographical error). While these lexical errors occur, they do not impede communication, allowing the reader to follow the arguments easily, which aligns well with the Band 6 descriptor.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing conditional clauses ('If there lived any popular person they would feel proud') and relative clauses. However, there are noticeable grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text, including missing end-of-sentence punctuation, comma splices, and minor structural awkwardness like 'there are any historical monuments' instead of 'whether there are any'. Despite these errors, meaning is rarely impeded, and the sentence structures show enough variety to meet the criteria for Band 6.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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