Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-21

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)

Many people argue that it is necessary to have a home in some countries as compared to renting one.I firmly agree, because many countries offer lower taxes on properties.Furthermore, renting also may not benefit in long run.Depending upon the nation and its policies it can have positive or negative impact.

The government of many countries whose economy is in growing phase remove property taxes in order to ease life of its citizens so that starting a family and living becomes easizer. For instance, the saudi government and dubai have lowest property taxes than any other nation which is why many buisness owners aquire land in order to live there and grow there buisness as well. Meanwhile, owning a home gives a sence of security.

In contrast, many countries like United States do not sale out lands rather they tax the home owners every month and for countries like this living on rent is much beneficial as compared to owning a house.On the other hand in China the cost of purchasing a house is so high that many people do not even get married. And those who get married have to adjust in small apartments.Renting a home may have disadvantages like the home owner can make you leave the house for what ever reason they like. Moving from one place to another also requires money and consumes time as well.Also you need to adjust according to the rules of the house owners.

In conclusion, depending upon the country the way you decide to live either owning a home or renting can have benefit as well as disadvantages.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: why owning a home is important in some countries, and whether this is a positive or negative situation. The student takes a clear position in the introduction, stating that 'renting also may not benefit in long run' and that the impact can be positive or negative depending on the nation. Ideas are introduced, such as property taxes in Saudi Arabia and Dubai, and the high cost of housing in China. However, many points remain under-developed and generalisations are made without sufficient elaboration. For instance, the reference to the United States taxing homeowners monthly lacks accuracy and depth. Despite these limitations, all parts of the prompt are addressed to a sufficient degree, fulfilling the requirements for Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a logical overall progression and attempts to structure arguments into paragraphs, including an introduction, body paragraphs addressing different aspects, and a conclusion. However, cohesion is frequently faulty and mechanical. There is a lack of smooth transitions between sentences, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as abrupt shifts between countries in the body paragraphs (e.g., jumping from Saudi Arabia to the United States and China within the same section). Paragraphing is also somewhat weak, with the second body paragraph feeling overly dense and containing disparate ideas about different nations. Cohesive devices like 'Furthermore', 'Meanwhile', and 'In contrast' are used, but sometimes inappropriately or repetitively.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, with attempts to incorporate less common items such as 'economy is in growing phase', 'buisness owners', and 'sence of security'. However, there are noticeable spelling errors throughout the text, including 'easizer' instead of 'easier', 'saudi' instead of 'Saudi', 'buisness' instead of 'business', 'aquires' instead of 'acquires', and 'sence' instead of 'sense'. Word choice and collocations are occasionally awkward, such as 'sale out lands' instead of 'sell land'. While these lexical shortcomings and spelling mistakes do not completely impede communication, they restrict the score to Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'The government of many countries whose economy is in growing phase remove property taxes...' and 'Renting a home may have disadvantages like the home owner can make you leave...'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are errors in subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'government... remove' instead of 'removes'), missing articles (e.g., 'in long run'), and punctuation errors including missing spaces after periods and commas. Complex structures are often prone to errors that cause some minor difficulty for the reader. Therefore, the grammatical performance sits firmly at Band 5.5.

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

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