Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-24

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)

Every country has its own particular customs and values, with which their government operates independently. For many foreign countries like Australia for instance, people highly prefer owning their own home rather than buying and renting a house they have to pay for every month. The reason behind this mindset holds a wide range of individualism, where individuals can make changes to their own home according to their particular requirements and desires, without a any government or public involvement. The rented houses are strictly prohibited to be redesigned or reconstructed without an appropriate lawful approach. The government penaltises those who dares to change the household features including its infrastructure inside or out. Thus, making it quite hard for people to make typical adjustments while holding back their needs for changes. Although the people can ask for permission to do, but a self-decisive act regarding the house is a concerning factor and for these particular circumstances, most people strive to have their own homeplace. Another most important reason is the sense of financial security and property. With own home, a person feels financial secure and does not depend on others decisions to living standards. Here comes the feeling of security that the individual no longer need to be afraid of getting a notice to leave the house by landlords. Therefore, the financial security and the feeling of having a property is a long-term investment everyone must try to invest in.

The privacy to modify the house according to one's need is also exploited when the owner of the house denies to its permission. This establishes a concept of owning one's own home with self-centred decisions and also it becomes an ultimate asset to an indivudual for a long-term advantage.

I personally believe this is an extremely positive approach which gives the idea of self-sufficiency and confidence to a person who does not need to ask or adjust into a house where renovation can not be done without permission from the legislation or the owner of the house.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by explaining why home ownership is important and giving a clear position that this is a positive development. The main ideas, such as personal freedom in modifying property and long-term financial security, are relevant and extended. For example, the student explains how renting restricts structural changes and how ownership eliminates the fear of eviction from landlords. However, the development of ideas tends to be a bit repetitive, and the reasoning contains some minor generalisations or confusion between government regulations and landlord rules. Overall, the task is addressed adequately, placing this in the Band 6 category, as some ideas are under-developed or slightly unclear in their distinction between public legislation and private ownership.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement, though the paragraphing is a notable weakness. The text is divided into only two very long paragraphs before the conclusion, making the structure visually heavy and difficult to navigate. Within the paragraphs, logical progression is sometimes hindered by mechanical or faulty cohesive devices, such as the abrupt transition in the second paragraph starting with 'The privacy to modify the house...'. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, as seen with phrases like 'Here comes the feeling of security'. While the overall progression is discernible, the lack of appropriate paragraph breaks and awkward transitions prevent the response from achieving a higher score.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common lexical items such as 'individualism', 'reconstructed', 'infrastructure', and 'self-sufficiency'. However, there are frequent word-choice and collocation errors that somewhat impede communication, such as 'penaltises those who dares' (penalises those who dare), 'financial secure' (financially secure), and 'indivudual' (individual). Furthermore, awkward phrasing like 'homeplace' and 'self-decisive act' demonstrates a lack of precision with less common vocabulary. Despite these inaccuracies, the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey the central message, aligning well with the Band 5 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some capability to construct longer sentences, such as 'For many foreign countries like Australia for instance, people highly prefer owning their own home rather than buying and renting a house they have to pay for every month.' Nevertheless, there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including article misuse ('without a any government', 'the rented houses'), subject-verb agreement issues ('who dares'), and prepositions ('denies to its permission'). These frequent errors can occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, though they do not entirely obscure the overall meaning of the essay, fitting the Band 5 profile.

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