Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-08-19

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)

Many people like to live near their birthplace for the majority they live. There are numerous advantages and disadvantages for that which will be discuss with reasons in upcoming paragraphs.

The most prominent reason behind the individuals like to live close where they born is family ties and financial stability. To explain this, individuals feel that they can easily meet their family if they are live near birthplace because they do not need to take vacation to meet grandparents and parents. Moving to new country needs a money because person does not know about how financial system.

The main advantage of this community well being. Live near birthplace helps to gain community support in every occasion .For example, If people live near places where they were born help to people connected their culture and that gathering on occasion helps to individuals relax . It also not help to connect with culture but also act as stress-buster activity. People feel safe around community and help to raise children among their community.

There are number of disadvantages of this but main drawback of this restrict personal growth. To explain this, individuals who likes to live near their birthplace their proffessional growth remains same because of less opportunities nearby them. this will not only reduce proffesional growth but also personal growth remains same . They are not able to achieve that goal which they are deserve and there higher degree will not get worth.

In conclusion, it may be concluded that there are several reasons , benefits and drawbacks behind why people like to live near where they born such as family ties and financial stability and community support and drawbacks are restrict personal growth.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, including reasons, advantages, and disadvantages. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the explanation regarding financial stability is underdeveloped and lacks clarity, particularly the phrase 'person does not know about how financial system'. While the main points are relevant, they are presented in a somewhat simplistic manner. To reach a higher band, you should expand on your examples with more specific details or logical connections. The position is clear, but the overall depth of the argument is consistent with a Band 5.5 or 6.0 level.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or inaccurate. For example, 'It also not help to connect with culture but also act as stress-buster activity' lacks proper grammatical linking. There are also issues with referencing; in the second paragraph, the transition between ideas is abrupt. While there is an overall progression, the lack of sophisticated linking words and occasional awkward phrasing makes the flow feel somewhat disjointed at times.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks range and precision. You rely on basic terms like 'good' or 'bad' (implied) and repeat words such as 'growth' and 'community' frequently. There are also noticeable errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'proffessional growth remains same' instead of 'stagnates' or 'remains limited'. Spelling errors like 'proffessional' also occur. To improve, you should aim to use more varied vocabulary and ensure that words are used in their correct collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('individuals like to live close where they born'), missing articles, and incorrect verb forms ('which will be discuss'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with missing spaces after commas and periods. While the meaning is generally understandable, the high frequency of errors in basic sentence construction prevents a higher score.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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