Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-16
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)
In current affairs, it is often argued that in a range of nations it is very crucial for their residents to purchase a own house rather than renting one. This change happen because people want financial security and stability in life and I believe this is a positive development and the points will discuss in the subsequent paragraphs.
There are several reasons why individuals prefer to own a house. First and foremost is having a financial security. To elaborate this, it saves the people money from the monthly rent, Once the people mortgage is paid, the house is owned and people no longer have to pay the rent. Moreover, they can also give a part of a house for a rent so from the rent money they can pay the house bills such as electricity and water bills. House is like a investment and property always increased its value over the time which will give nice returns in the future. Secondly, stability and independence. To explain this, if people owned the house they do not have to worry about landlords increases rent or asking to leave. Additionally it becomes permanent place to leave. Besides this, individuals have independence to decorate or renovate their house without any concerns and rules of a landlords.
From my perspective, this is largely a positive development. Firstly, owning a house provide stability to families. To put it in other words, if the house is owned there is no need of permission to ask landlord for the family stay. Moreover, the owned property becomes a asset after retirement and inheritance. Individuals feels more sense of freedom to having a home. Also, owning a house in this competitive world is like a achievement for everyone.
Conclusively, owing a house rather than renting it is very important for some people, this might be the case because people wants freedom, financial security, independence and stability and i believe this is largely a positive development as home is a asset after retirement or inheritance, it is small portion source of earning money through giving on rent.
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 task by explaining why home ownership is important and discussing whether this is a positive or negative development. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. Ideas are extended and supported, such as financial security, freedom from landlords, and retirement planning. For example, the writer notes that 'once the people mortgage is paid, the house is owned and people no longer have to pay the rent.' However, there is a tendency to over-generalise in places, and some supporting points border on repetitive. Overall, all parts of the prompt are addressed adequately, fulfilling the requirements for Band 6.5, which rounds to a solid band score of 6.0.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay has a coherent overall arrangement and is divided into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus on reasons or evaluation. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'First and foremost', 'Moreover', and 'Secondly', though some referencing is mechanical or slightly repetitive ('To explain this', 'To put it in other words'). Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate ideas. However, the progression of ideas can feel a bit disjointed due to frequent formulaic transition phrases and occasional awkward sentence links. This places the response comfortably within the Band 6 descriptor range for logical organisation and cohesive management.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully discussing housing concepts using terms like 'financial security', 'mortgage', 'renovate', and 'inheritance'. There are, however, noticeable word choice and collocation errors throughout the text, such as 'purchase a own house', 'give a part of a house for a rent', 'permanet place to leave' (instead of live), and 'house is like a investment'. While these errors do not impede communication, they reflect some limitations in precision and lexical control. The range of vocabulary is sufficient to meet the Band 6 criteria.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some ambition with conditional and relative structures (e.g., 'if people owned the house they do not have to worry'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors in articles, prepositions, subject-verb agreement, and tense consistency, such as 'This change happen' instead of 'happens', 'the people mortgage', and 'landlords increases rent'. Punctuation is also occasionally faulty, with run-on clauses linked by commas instead of proper conjunctions. Despite these errors, meaning is rarely impeded, representing a standard typical of Band 5.5 to 6.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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