Band 7.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 7.0 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-07-24

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 7.0)

In this contemporary era, several individuals choose to live nearby their birthplace where they grew up, this preference is mainly influenced by strong family ties and familiarity with local environment. Although remaining in native place may have several benefits like wise, emotional support and sense of belonging, there are significant challenges to one's life such as, limited career opportunities and exposure. This essay will elucidate the reason and the potential drawbacks further in subsequent paragraphs.

To commence with, many people tend to prefer to live near their birthplace because of the familiarity of the environment and neighbourhood. To expound, friends and relatives can provide emotional support, financial encouragement and help during difficult times. Additionally, sense of belonging such as place, people, neighbourhood, culture, food and language provide sense of safety and security to one's life. To exemplify, many adults prefer to stay close to their relatives and local neighbourhood to provide care to their parents and grandparents or continue to working in their family business. Hence, strong family ties and familiarity are key factors why many people remain close to their birthplace.

On the contrary, living close to one's birthplace may limit their career opportunities and personal development. To explain, smaller towns often offer fewer employment options and limited access to higher education or specialised industries. As a result, many who remains their hometown may witnessed slower career growth and fewer opportunities to broaden their horizon. For instance, many young people move to modern cities because they offer better opportunities, higher salaries and career advancement. In addition to this, people who relocate may have higher chance to tackle any issues in their life. Therefore, the greater the risk, the greater the potential reward.

To recapitulate, many people choose to live near their birthplace because of their strong family ties and familiar surroundings. However, living in one's hometown poses substantial challenges that are limited career opportunities and education. Thus, living in one's birthplace has far more drawbacks than benefits.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt: reasons for staying near one's birthplace, as well as the advantages and disadvantages. The ideas are relevant and generally well-developed. For instance, the explanation of emotional support and family ties provides a clear rationale for the first part of the prompt. The discussion on career limitations effectively covers the disadvantages. However, the essay could be improved by providing more specific examples or a more nuanced discussion of the advantages beyond just family support to reach a higher band. The position is clear throughout, and the conclusion effectively summarises the main points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'To commence with', 'Additionally', 'On the contrary', and 'To recapitulate' are used to guide the reader through the argument. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas. While the flow is generally smooth, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing, such as the phrase 'like wise' which is used incorrectly in the introduction. Overall, the progression of ideas is clear and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 7.0

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to discuss the topic with some flexibility. Phrases like 'contemporary era', 'emotional support', and 'specialised industries' show an ability to use topic-specific language. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'remaining in native place' (should be 'remaining in one's native place') and 'many who remains their hometown' (should be 'many who remain in their hometown'). These errors do not impede communication, but they prevent the response from reaching a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There is a good attempt at using complex sentences, such as 'Although remaining in native place may have several benefits... there are significant challenges'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('many who remains') and missing articles ('provide sense of safety'). Punctuation is generally functional, though some comma splices occur in the introduction. While these errors are noticeable, they rarely impede the reader's understanding of the intended meaning.

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