Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-11-10

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people spend most of their lives living close to where they were born.

What might be the reasons for this?

What are the advantages and disadvantages?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Few individuals invest most of their life living near to their home where they grow-up. This essay will explain main reasons behind this as well as some advantages and disadvantages of living close to where people were born in upcoming paragraphs.

To commence with, There are several reasons behind why people spend most of their lives living close to their birthplace. Firstly, they may want to stay near to their family members and friends.To elaborate it, these relationships provide emotional and financial sport to everyone. Secondly, people are more comfortable with their own culture and individuals around them. For instance, a person who is living in same place since their childhood may prefer to live their because of they have good social connections their and they like their culture more.

Furthermore, living close to birthplace has both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, people enjoy and feel safe living around folks

they already know. Moreover, they can live close to their family and friends. One the other hand, living in the same place may limit career options and experience and other big disadvantages is that individuals can not get much knowledge about other cultures and languages.

To conclude, people choose to live near to their birthplace because they want to live close to their family and friends additionally, they are comfortable with their own culture.However, folks feel save and enjoy leaving in their hometown as well as they can leave close to their family, it may also limit career opportunities and people can not learn more about other cultures.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions: you give reasons for staying near one’s birthplace, including family ties and familiarity with local culture, and identify benefits and drawbacks. The advantages of feeling safe and remaining close to family are relevant, as are the limits on career options and exposure to other cultures. However, these points are mostly stated rather than explained or supported with a specific example. The opening promises to explain the reasons and evaluate both sides, but the discussion does not fully develop how these factors affect people. The conclusion repeats the main points without adding a clear, considered summary. To strengthen the response, explain each key idea with a concrete example and make the relationship between the reasons and the advantages clearer.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, a paragraph on reasons, a paragraph comparing advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Signposting such as “Firstly,” “Secondly,” and “On the one hand” helps readers follow the main categories. However, progression within paragraphs is uneven, and some links are mechanical or unclear. For example, “To elaborate it” does not lead smoothly into the explanation, while the final sentence joins several ideas without clear boundaries. The conclusion also repeats much of the previous paragraph rather than bringing the discussion together. Use clearer sentence boundaries and connect each explanation directly to the point it supports; this would make the overall progression easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “birthplace,” “social connections,” “career options,” and “cultures.” There are also attempts at less common phrasing, such as “emotional and financial support.” However, the range is limited and several word-choice, spelling, or collocation errors make the writing less natural. Examples include “financial sport” for “financial support,” “feel save” for “feel safe,” and “leaving” where “living” is intended. “Big disadvantages” is also vague, and “folks” is informal for this essay. Aim for precise, consistently appropriate wording, and proofread spelling and word forms so that the reader can focus on your ideas.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a relative clause in “a person who is living in same place since their childhood” and a contrast structure with “On the one hand” and “On the other hand.” However, complex constructions are often inaccurate, and errors occur frequently enough to affect clarity. For example, “because of they have” should be “because they have,” and “people can not get much knowledge” would be more naturally formed as “people may not learn much.” Articles and sentence boundaries also need attention: “in same place” needs an article, and several sentences run ideas together, especially in the conclusion. Practise building accurate clauses and checking punctuation before adding more complexity.

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