Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-02

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 several nation, a growing number of individuals are showing a keen interest in uncovering the hiostory of their residental properties. Tis essay will explkore the primery motivations behind this trend, such as personal curiosity and property perservation, and outline effective research methods, inclouding examining public archives and interviewing local residents.

There are two main reasons Why people want to know about their home past. Firstly, it satisfise a deep sense of personal curiosity and connection. For many, a house is not just brrick and mortar but a place where generationshave lived their lives. Discovering who previously owend the house or what significant local events place there helps homeowners feel a stronger historical connection to their living space .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt by identifying reasons such as personal curiosity and outlining research methods like examining public archives. However, the severe issue with length is that the response falls significantly short of the required minimum of 250 words, totaling only 119 words. Because of this extreme under-length, the ideas presented in the introduction and first body paragraph are left heavily under-developed and incomplete, preventing the candidate from fully exploring the topic as required.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The writing demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear organizational structure visible in the introductory and body paragraphs. The writer attempts to sequence ideas logically, moving from motivations in the first paragraph to reasons in the second. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical, as seen in minor referencing issues and abrupt transitions between sentences, such as the sudden shift into discussing historical events without smoother linking. Paragraphing is initiated properly, but the truncated nature of the essay limits a more fully realized flow and progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used provides an adequate range for the task, successfully incorporating topic-appropriate terms such as 'personal curiosity', 'generations', and 'historical connection'. The writer attempts to use less common vocabulary, but this is offset by noticeable spelling and word choice errors that stem from lack of proofreading, such as 'hiostory', 'residental', 'primery', 'perservation', 'inclouding', and 'owend'. Fortunately, these errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score due to inaccuracy.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The text displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating that the writer can construct multi-clause ideas, such as 'For many, a house is not just brick and mortar but a place where generations have lived their lives.' There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, including subject-verb agreement issues like 'it satisfise' and missing words or awkward phrasing such as 'events place there' instead of 'events took place'. These errors rarely impede communication, reflecting a foundational control of basic sentence patterns alongside persistent minor mechanical slips.

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

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