Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-31

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

In some countries owning a home rather than renting one is very important for people. Why might this be the case? Do you think this is a positive or negative situation?

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Having a home is the dream of every living person, rather poor or rich, so it is a very important thing irrespective of the country. Home isn't an enclosed space consists of 4 walls, rather a place of dreams, hard-work, laughter, and a family. Every person rather a child or an adult, if you talk about their dreams the only thing that is common among them is the dream of having their own home. The place where they live without the fear of being kicked out.

So, if we categorized it to a country it is not a case. This is the most positive dream a person can ever have. Yet, to achieve this the person can go for any negative lengths. So, having a dream is something most incredible, but achieving it makes a situation positive or negative. For-example, this dream of having a home is forcing a person for more legal work, or to do more jobs, so he can have a home, that is something good and positive. However, on other hand, if a person invest himself more in illegal activities, ruins his future then its a negative one.

So, owing a home rather than renting is a basic need of every person. Every person wants his shelter, his floor and space. The rented place never gives a person sense of freedom because at the end of each month an other person has full authority to kick you out of your living space because technically that isn't your space.

In conclusion, owing a home rather than renting is an ultimate dream of every living person irrespective of from where they belong, because every person wants to have his own space without being a fear of kicked out.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: why home ownership is important and whether it is a positive or negative situation. However, the development is somewhat superficial. The reasons provided for the importance of home ownership (security and freedom) are relevant, but the discussion regarding whether it is positive or negative is underdeveloped. The argument shifts quickly between the benefits of hard work and the risks of illegal activities without providing a clear, sustained position. To improve, you should provide more specific examples or deeper analysis of the societal or economic implications of home ownership rather than relying on general statements.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, but the logical progression is occasionally disjointed. While you use some cohesive devices like 'However' and 'In conclusion', the transitions between sentences are sometimes abrupt, making the flow feel mechanical. For instance, the jump from discussing the dream of a home to the potential for illegal activities is quite sudden. The use of referencing is sometimes unclear, and the paragraph structure could be more balanced to ensure that each idea is fully explored before moving to the next. Improving the variety of linking words would help create a smoother narrative.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and range expected at higher bands. You rely on repetitive phrasing, such as 'every person' and 'dream of having a home'. There are some inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'rather poor or rich' (should be 'whether poor or rich') and 'legal work' (which is vague in this context). To reach a higher band, you should incorporate more topic-specific vocabulary related to housing, finance, or social stability, and work on using collocations more naturally to express your ideas with greater sophistication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'Home isn't an enclosed space consists of 4 walls'), incorrect word forms (e.g., 'owing' instead of 'owning'), and punctuation errors. The use of 'rather' as a conjunction is non-standard. While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of these errors prevents the writing from being considered fluent. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for common errors like verb forms and prepositions will significantly improve your score.

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

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