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 some countries being owner of a home is more important then renting one. Different people have different thinking, some prefer to live in a rented home as they want to save thier money and use it in a bussiness while other buy a home instead of paying every month because they think, it would be difficult to buy it in future.

Most of the people used to buy a home as shelter for their future. There are many reasons that can be considered. As fuels prices are rising day by day and it directly effects the cost of every thing including construction material. Moreover, the property is becoming valueable by the time. Some people thinks that it would be an investment for future. They will sell it, and earn a good amount. In many countries, rent amount is too much and is unpayable. People prefer to buy home, instead of spending all their saving and earning to pay rent every month. First, they build grey structure and shifts in that building, then they furnish that building with thier saving every month or ever year. They paint their buiding and do wood works. Hence they have thier own home in an year or two.

In my opinion, if someone have enough amount or saving, that he can built his home even in steps, it is better than giving rent and making own's life difficult. If someone want to start or vast his bussiness, and that bussiness gives him a handsome amount that he can pay rent and live happily, he should go for it.

AI examiner evaluation

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 positive or negative. The writer presents a clear position, noting reasons such as rising fuel prices, construction costs, and avoiding high monthly rent. However, some ideas are under-developed and lack the depth expected for a higher band. For instance, the explanation of how people build homes in stages using grey structures is relevant but could be tied more directly to the broader socio-economic context. Generalisations are present, such as 'Most of the people used to buy a home as shelter for their future', but all parts of the prompt are given attention, aligning the response with the Band 6 descriptor.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The text demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement, and the progression of ideas is generally clear. The response is divided into introductory, body, and concluding sections, though paragraphing is somewhat basic and the second body paragraph is overly dense. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Moreover', 'Hence', and 'In my opinion', but referencing is occasionally faulty, and some links feel mechanical. For example, transitioning from the discussion of construction materials to the cost of rent feels abrupt. Paragraphing could be used more purposefully to separate the two main tasks: the reasons for homeownership and the personal evaluation of whether the situation is positive or negative.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'grey structure', 'construction material', and 'investment'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors that detract from the quality of the writing, including 'thier' instead of 'their', 'bussiness' instead of 'business', 'valueable' instead of 'valuable', 'unpayable' instead of 'unaffordable', and 'built' instead of 'build'. Furthermore, phrases like 'handsome amount' and 'vast his bussiness' show unnatural collocation or misuse. These lexical slips do not completely impede communication, but they restrict the score to Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over conditional and relative structures, as seen in 'if someone have enough amount or saving, that he can built his home even in steps...'. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors such as subject-verb agreement issues ('someone have', 'he can built'), tense inconsistencies ('shifts in that building'), and preposition errors. Punctuation is also problematic, with comma splices and missing commas. While the meaning remains mostly clear to the reader, the density of errors prevents the response from achieving a higher band.

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

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