Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-14

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 6.5)

It is believed that there are three basic needs of life -Food, cloth and shelter. Out of these shelter is one of the necessity which affects life of an individual to a greater extent. Therefore, a few multitudes like to spend most of the lifetime near the place where they are born. There are various reasons behind this and the benefits along with its drawbacks will be explicated in upcoming paragraphs.

To commence with the reasons of residing close to the birth place, the predominant reason is emotional attachment of a person with that place. To exemplify, a person is well known with the surroundings and society of a place where they are born. A person feels more secure and safe at a place where he knows various locations as well as neighbours. Another point include their right to live in the ancestral property. In many societies, there is a trend of living in joint families over generations. That's why people like to live at the place where ohter family members are there support them in difficult times.

Moving on to the advantages, it is financially sound option to stay in their home town. As a result a person need not to spend money on paying rents or purchasing any property for living.

On the contrary, there are some drawbacks linked to stay in the locality where they are born. Firstly, Sometimes there are limited career and education opportunities at the place where people are born. Therefore, it restricts the person's ability to explore other areas of work and study.

To conclude, although there are several advantages behind living at a place where

a person born yet the disadvantages of it cannot be overlooked

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by explaining reasons why people stay close to their birthplace, alongside discussing the advantages and disadvantages. The position is clear throughout, and the ideas are extended and supported. For example, the writer outlines emotional attachment, ancestral property rights, and financial savings as reasons and benefits, while noting restricted career and education opportunities as a drawback. While some points could benefit from slightly deeper elaboration, the response successfully satisfies the core requirements of Task 2. This aligns well with the Band 6.5 to 7.0 descriptors, specifically fulfilling the requirement to address all parts with a clear position and relevant, supported ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized and follows a clear progression from introduction to body paragraphs and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate reasons, advantages, and disadvantages. Cohesive devices such as 'To commence with', 'To exemplify', and 'On the contrary' are employed to guide the reader through the text, although some transitions feel slightly mechanical or formulaic. Referencing is generally clear, though occasional minor slip-ups in cohesion occur, such as 'stay in the locality' following 'linked to'. Overall, the logical structure and manageable flow of ideas place this response comfortably within the Band 6.5 to 7.0 range.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'predominant reason', 'ancestral property', and 'financially sound option'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and phrasing, such as 'three basic needs of life -Food, cloth and shelter' (should be 'clothing') and 'a few multitudes like to spend' (an unnatural collocation). Spelling and basic word formation are generally accurate, and vocabulary errors do not impede communication. This performance aligns with the Band 6 descriptors, which highlight an adequate range with some inaccuracy in less common vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at varied structures such as relative clauses and conditional-style reasoning (e.g., 'a person needs not to spend money on paying rents'). However, there are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings throughout, such as 'Out of these shelter is one of the necessity', 'a person is well known with the surroundings', and 'linked to stay'. Punctuation is generally acceptable, and errors do not impede overall communication. Because errors occur consistently alongside a mix of simple and complex structures, this fits the Band 6 descriptor well.

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

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