Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-09-28

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 many countries, owning a home is considered more important than renting one. This preference attributed to several financial and social factors. In my opinion, although home ownership can create financial burden, it is largely positive development.

There are several reasons why people believe that it is necessary and owning a high value property. First and foremost reasons is that a house is often regarded as a long-term investment. Instead of paying rent evey month without gaining ownership, people can built equity in their property and potential benefit from increasing value over time. Moreover, owning a home provides greater security and stability, as homeowners are not dependent on landlords or concerned about sudden rent increases or eviction. Another significant factor is social status. In some societies, owing property is associated with financial success and personal achievement, which encourage people to properties purchasing a house.

I believe this is predominantly positive development, as a owning a home can provide people with greater stability and financial security. Homeowners can live without monthly rental payments may may also benefit from an increasing property value. Furthermore, owning a home can gives freedom to individuals to make changes to their living space according to their preference. However, there are some disadvantages. Buying a home can be very expensive, and people may face some difficulties and have to take out a large mortgage, which can create financial burden. In addition those who focus too much on home ownership may less may money for other important needs.

In conclusion, the desire to own a home stems mainly gives stability and long-term investment with social recognition. Despite the financial risk, I believe home ownership is generally beneficial when it is financially affordable.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response successfully addresses all parts of the prompt by explaining why home ownership is important and discussing whether this is a positive or negative situation. A clear position is established in the introduction and maintained throughout the essay. The reasons provided, such as long-term investment, stability, and social status, are relevant and extended with some support. For instance, the discussion on building equity and avoiding landlords provides a clear rationale for the preference of buying over renting. Similarly, the evaluation of both advantages and disadvantages in the third paragraph shows a balanced approach. While some ideas could have been further elaborated with deeper examples, the task is covered sufficiently to meet the requirements of a Band 6.5 or solid Band 7 descriptor.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a generally clear overall progression and logical organisation. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, reasons for home ownership, the evaluative stance, and the conclusion. Cohesive devices are employed to link ideas, such as "First and foremost reasons," "Moreover," and "Furthermore," although some transitions are slightly mechanical or ungrammatical. For example, the phrase "First and foremost reasons is that" contains a grammatical mismatch. Referencing is mostly clear, though occasional awkward phrasing affects the flow. Overall, the logical structure allows the reader to follow the argument easily, aligning well with the Band 6 descriptors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully incorporating topic-specific terms such as "long-term investment," "equity," "landlords," "eviction," and "mortgage." There are attempts to use less common vocabulary like "predominantly positive development" and "social recognition." However, noticeable word-choice and collocation errors occur throughout the text, such as "This preference attributed to" (missing auxiliary verb), "evey month" (spelling error), "built equity" (tense error), and "properties purchasing a house" (word order confusion). These lexical slips do not impede communication, but they prevent the writing from achieving a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over grammar and punctuation. Sentences like "In my opinion, although home ownership can create financial burden, it is largely positive development" show attempts at subordination. However, the text contains a notable frequency of grammatical errors and missing articles, such as "This preference attributed to," "First and foremost reasons is," "a owning a home," and "may may also benefit." Additionally, dangling modifiers or clunky clauses appear, such as "which encourage people to properties purchasing a house." While these errors do not severely impede understanding, they occur regularly, placing the grammar score firmly at Band 5.5.

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