Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-21

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)

Yes, in some countries most of the people research their home's history to satisfy personal curiosity, check structural and safety conditions, understand architectural or cultural significance, and assess property or investment value. They do this by consulting local municipal records, searching online land or property databases, visiting local archives, and talking to older neighbors.

The reasons of this intresting habbit is

Homeowners wants a deep connection to the home they live, in other to gain peace and sense of attraction.

Knowing the age of a building helps predict issues like old wiring, , foundation shifts.

Checking the house for the hazardous things.

: People take pride in preserving vintage design styles (such as colonial, Victorian, or indigenous regional designs) and understanding how their neighborhood evolved.

Historic or well-documented provenance can increase a home's market appeal, resale value, or tourist interest.

to answer the question that how people can research about this is

Reviewing building permits, tax assessment rolls, and zoning history at city or town halls.

Tracing past owners, property transfers, and mortgage records through legal or land registry offices.

Looking up old city maps, historical photographs, local newspapers, and census data.

Look for the around bulding data,taking information from neighbour can also give a lot of precious data.

Looking for the record avaliable with the land owner so that we can look through the data from the record and learn from it.

there are a lot of examples a well which are

once my father bought a house from a owner, and after watches the records carefully , the records seem perfect . But my father was always curious about checking the background and history of the house , what we found their was very astonishing . The electrical wiring of the house were in very bad condition, a little spark could burn the house in a moment. After seeing this , my father immediately reject that house and looked for the other one

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses both questions: it gives several reasons for researching a home’s past, including safety, cultural interest and property value, and suggests records, archives, maps and conversations with neighbours. The personal example about discovering unsafe wiring is relevant and helps illustrate the safety reason. However, some points are only listed rather than explained; for instance, the ideas about gaining a “deep connection” and checking for hazards are not clearly developed. The research methods are also not consistently explained in terms of how they reveal a building’s history. To strengthen the response, organise the reasons into clear points and add a brief explanation or example for each, while making the connection between each research source and the information it can provide explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.5

There is a recognisable overall sequence: an opening overview, reasons, research methods and a personal example. However, the progression is difficult to follow because the response relies on fragments and abrupt transitions, such as “The reasons of this interesting habit is” and “to answer the question that how people can research about this is”. The list-like presentation, including the isolated colon before the point about preserving design, also weakens paragraph structure. Some ideas repeat or appear in an unclear order. Use complete paragraphs with a clear topic sentence for each section, then connect supporting details with simple, accurate linking phrases. A more deliberate structure would make the relevant content easier to follow without changing the ideas themselves.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The response shows an adequate range for the topic, including terms such as “municipal records”, “tax assessment rolls”, “zoning history”, “property transfers” and “architectural or cultural significance”. These choices help communicate specific research methods and reasons. There are also attempts at less common vocabulary, but some word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unclear, including “sense of attraction”, “precious data” and “the reasons … is”. Spelling errors such as “intresting”, “bulding” and “avaliable” also reduce accuracy. Aim for natural combinations such as “a sense of connection” and “valuable information”, and proofread spelling. More precise phrasing would make the ideas clearer while retaining the useful topic-specific vocabulary already present.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response attempts both simple statements and longer structures, for example the opening sentence lists several purposes, while the final anecdote uses a sequence of events. However, control is uneven, and errors in agreement, verb forms, sentence construction and punctuation sometimes make the meaning harder to follow. Examples include “Homeowners wants” and “the electrical wiring … were”, where the subject and verb do not agree, as well as the incomplete construction “The reasons … is”. The sentence beginning “After seeing this” also needs clearer punctuation and phrasing. Practise building complete sentences around one main idea, check singular and plural subjects, and use commas and full stops to separate the stages of the anecdote. This will make the range of structures more reliable.

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.