Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-09-17

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)

Living in your native country and near your loved ones gives you a sense of comfort and boosts your confidence. Such kind of people have strong family ties, earn through ancestral wealth and family businesses and lastly, seek a simpler life. However, most often these people are less explorative, missing valuable experiences of this vast and beautiful world. Likewise, they don not chase big ambitions.

To begin with, one of the major reasons for spending most of your life in your hometown is the strong family relations. Such people prefer living close to their parents as they have fear of strangers and living in unfavourable conditions. For example, my cousin preferred going to a less-established university in her hometown, opting for the opportunity provided by her parents of studying in a well-known university. This surely had drastic effects on her personal and professional growth. Resulting in lesser confidence and lesser capability of coping up with the difficulties life might throw at her. Moreover, professionally, such universities inevitably contribute to fewer employment opportunities.

Furthermore, it is a fact that advantages of spending life outside your hometown surely outweighs the disadvantages. Firstly, people have more exposure of the outside world. They will face future challenges with more strength and resilience. Eventually, they will become more successful by accepting maximum opportunities that this world offered them during their ventures. However, leaving your familiar space comes with its own set of hurdles. Sometimes, encountering unexpected problems can be overwhelming. Thereby, these comfort seeking people fulfil fewer goals.

In conclusion, living most of life in your hometown comes with its perks of a smoother life. However, for a progressive future one must take risks, meet strangers and opt for opportunities that this world offers.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing the reasons why people stay in their hometowns as well as the advantages and disadvantages of doing so. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. The introduction touches on comfort and family ties, while subsequent body paragraphs outline specific reasons like fear of strangers, alongside advantages (exposure, resilience) and disadvantages (fewer goals fulfilled). However, some ideas are slightly under-developed or generalise rather quickly, such as the example of the cousin which leads to a somewhat fragmented explanation of personal growth and professional limitations. The response meets the task requirements well, earning a solid Band 6.5 descriptor alignment, rounded to a Band 6.0 due to some unevenness in idea extension.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from introduction to body paragraphs and conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, with each body paragraph dedicated to distinct aspects of the prompt. Cohesive devices are employed to guide the reader, such as 'To begin with', 'Furthermore', 'Sometimes', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and transitional flow can occasionally feel slightly mechanical or abrupt, as seen in the isolated sentence fragments like 'Resulting in lesser confidence and lesser capability of coping up with the difficulties life might throw at her.' Overall, the organizational structure is clear, aligning comfortably with a Band 6.0 level.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items and phrasal verbs such as 'ancestral wealth', 'unfavourable conditions', 'resilience', and 'overwhelming'. There are, however, some word choice and collocation inaccuracies throughout the text, such as 'Such kind of people' instead of 'Such people', 'fear of strangers' when 'fear of the unknown' might be more natural, and 'coping up' instead of 'coping with'. Spelling is generally accurate, and vocabulary errors do not impede overall communication. These characteristics place the lexical performance firmly within the Band 6.0 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional and relative clauses. There are, however, noticeable grammatical errors and awkward phrasing that persist throughout the text. Examples include 'they don not chase big ambitions' (typo), 'advantages... surely outweighs' (subject-verb agreement error), and sentence fragments like 'Resulting in lesser confidence'. Punctuation is generally acceptable, but grammatical slips occur frequently enough to prevent the essay from reaching Band 7. The frequency and nature of the errors fit the Band 6 descriptor, where a mix of forms is present alongside some errors that rarely impede communication.

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

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