Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-18

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)

A number of individuals in different countries are now becoming more curious about the history of the place they live in. The main reason for this is general curiosity and interesting stories that the place had. They can know about this information online or through official documentation.

According to statistics the general curiosity among many individuals, especially the young ones, is increasing nowadays. This is one of the primary reasons that they want to know about the history of the place they have been living in or moving to. The stories of every owner or every family that lived in the place evokes curiosity. Which eventually lead to searching for sources that fulfills this curiosity.

One of the ways of researching the history of your place is the official documentation. Every place has a trail of paper work that clearly show the history of the place. You can know about the families that used to live in there and how the place has been modified over the years. Another way is to search about it online. One might find the history of any event that had happened in the place, in the past. There are official registries for a place as well that can help with this. They are often paper based or could be find online as well.

In conclusion, younger individuals are often curious about things. This curiosity is the reason that they want to know about the place they live in. They can find the relevant information either online or through the official documents of the place.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions: curiosity and interest in previous occupants are offered as reasons, while online searches, official documents and registries are suggested as research methods. These points are relevant, but the explanation remains general and some ideas are under-developed. For example, “interesting stories” is mentioned without explaining what kinds of stories might motivate residents, and the discussion of paperwork does not identify specific records or explain how someone could access them. The claim that curiosity is increasing “according to statistics” is also unsupported. To strengthen the response, develop each reason with a clear explanation or example, and make the research advice more concrete, such as consulting land records, local archives or previous residents.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, separate paragraphs on reasons and research methods, and a conclusion. This makes the main progression easy to follow. You also use basic linking expressions such as “One of the ways,” “Another way” and “In conclusion” to signal shifts between points. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical, and some references are unclear. For instance, “Which eventually lead to searching for sources” is a fragment whose connection to the previous sentence is not smoothly expressed, while “They” in “They are often paper based” could refer to registries or documents. Improve the flow by linking explanations directly and using precise references rather than relying mainly on formulaic transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough vocabulary to communicate the topic, including “official documentation,” “modified,” “families” and “registries.” The wording is generally understandable, but the range is limited and several phrases are repetitive or imprecise, such as “the history of the place” and “know about this information.” Some collocations and word forms are awkward, including “interesting stories that the place had” and “paper based.” These choices do not prevent the reader from understanding your main points, but they reduce precision and naturalness. Aim for more specific terms for historical research and vary repeated wording; for example, distinguish between a building’s past occupants, ownership records and architectural changes.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use mostly straightforward sentence patterns and attempt some longer structures, such as “The stories of every owner or every family that lived in the place evokes curiosity.” Meaning is usually clear, but there are several errors in agreement, verb forms and sentence construction. In that example, the plural subject “stories” requires “evoke”; “Which eventually lead to searching for sources” is an incomplete sentence and also needs a singular verb if joined to “curiosity.” In “paper work that clearly show,” the verb should agree with the singular noun “trail,” and “could be find online” needs a passive form. Work on combining related ideas into complete sentences and checking subject–verb agreement and verb forms.

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