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)
Nowadays, around the world it is becoming crucial to rent a home rather than buying. Because some individuals cannot afford to buy their own house.
From my perspective, it is a positive development. People who are living away from their homes or living abroad for the sake of study or work, they prefer to rent an appartment because it's quite easy from them to maintain or change the place and its budget friendly. For instance, students studying abroad always prefer living in a shared places. so that the rent is divided among all the members living in that place.
On the other hand, if they bought their own flat they have to pay taxes and bills alone. If they wanted to move on it is difficult for them to sale. Many individuals left their own home in order to live near their work place so they prefer to lets the house although they have their own house. For example, some companies provided accommodations to their employers, so employers prefer to live their as they are free of cost.
Subsequently, sometimes it has a negative impact, that a person can't buy their own house and after retirement it become difficult to manage rent. people who are living with families in other countries should buy their own house because it's cost effective for all family.
In conclusion, renting a house is becoming trend in many countries and has many benefits for a person living away from their homes. In contrast, it is not beneficial for families or older people.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing why home ownership is important and offering a perspective on whether renting is a positive or negative situation. The student provides relevant ideas, such as financial flexibility, job mobility, and retirement concerns, but some arguments are under-developed or briefly stated. For instance, the prompt asks why owning a home rather than renting is important in some countries, but the introduction partially contradicts this by stating it is becoming crucial to rent, before later acknowledging the importance of ownership. The position is generally clear throughout, but the development of ideas could be extended more thoroughly to reach a higher band. Overall, it satisfies the basic requirements of Task Achievement at a Band 6.0 level.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt at paragraphing, dividing the introduction, body points, and conclusion. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty and mechanical. For example, cohesive devices like 'Subsequently' are used inappropriately for the context of introducing a drawback. Referencing can also be unclear, as seen in sentences like 'From my perspective, it is a positive development. People who are living away from their homes... they prefer to rent...', which contains redundant pronouns and awkward structural transitions. Paragraphing is present, but internal logical progression within paragraphs often stumbles due to abrupt shifts in focus. This places the essay firmly at Band 5.5.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully using terms like 'budget friendly', 'accommodations', and 'retirement'. However, there are noticeable lexical errors and awkward word choices throughout the text, such as writing 'appartment' with a double 'p', using 'sale' instead of 'sell', and 'lets the house' instead of 'let out' or 'rent out'. There is also confusion between 'employers' and 'employees' ('companies provided accommodations to their employers'). While the vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the main points, these inaccuracies restrict the score to a Band 5.0.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar is inconsistent. There are frequent structural errors and punctuation slips, such as sentence fragments ('Because some individuals cannot afford to buy their own house') and comma splices or run-on structures ('People who are living away from their homes or living abroad for the sake of study or work, they prefer to rent...'). Subject-verb agreement and tense consistency also falter at times, as seen in 'if they bought their own flat they have to pay' (mixed conditionals) and 'it become difficult'. These errors can cause occasional difficulty for the reader, leading to a Band 5.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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