Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-05
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 prefer to live around their birth place because they may want to maintain a good relationship with their family and friends. Therefore, they spend most of their lives living around that place where they were born. Althouth living at same place may prevent them to find better employment opportunities, they can maintain a good relationship with their friends and family members.
On the one hand, many people spend most of their lives living in same city or village where they were born. They may choose to live at same place because they want to maintain a good relationship with their friends and family members. When people spend most of their lives living at same place, they can interact face-to-face with their loved ones. For example, Many people spend their entier lives living in same city where they have grown and studied. Owing to this, they have privilege to meet their good friends on a daily basis. Therefore, these people are more likely to maintain a good relationship with their friends and family.
On the other hand, some people who live in country side areas may struggle to find better employment opportunities beacuse they do not want to move to a big city. Country side areas are often undeveloped and provide less job opportunities. For instance, many people migrate from ruler areas to urban areas in search of better employment opportunities. Therefore, people who decide to live in coutry side area may struggle financial because they may not find better employment opportunities in ruler areas.
To conclude, many people prefer to live at same place because it allows them to maintain a good relationship with their friends and family members. However, if they are living in ruler areas they may struggle to find better employment opportunities.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing reasons for living close to one's birthplace, as well as the advantages and disadvantages. However, the development of ideas is limited and shows a tendency to repeat the same core points multiple times, such as maintaining relationships with family and friends. For instance, the introduction and the first body paragraph reiterate nearly identical thoughts. While a position is presented, the lack of fully extended ideas and the repetition of arguments keep the response at this level. To move to a higher band, the writer needs to provide more varied, extended arguments and distinct examples for each part of the prompt without repetitive looping.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay displays some overall organization with clear paragraph breaks and basic cohesive devices like 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand'. However, the progression is hindered by heavy repetition and mechanical transitions. For example, sentences within the first body paragraph frequently restate the idea that face-to-face interaction helps maintain relationships without introducing new directional thought. Referencing is also occasionally repetitive, using phrases like 'living at same place' excessively. To improve coherence and progress to the next level, the writer should ensure each sentence advances the argument logically rather than restating previous points, and employ a wider, more natural variety of cohesive links.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, featuring basic and frequently repeated words and phrases like 'good relationship', 'better employment opportunities', and 'same place'. There are also several notable lexical and spelling errors that detract from the writing, such as 'birth place', 'Althouth', 'entier', 'country side', and the repeated misspelling 'ruler' instead of 'rural'. Furthermore, awkward word choices like 'struggle financial' appear. To achieve a higher band, the writer must expand their lexical range beyond repetitive phrasing, demonstrate better control over less common vocabulary items, and eliminate basic spelling and word-form errors.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional and concessive clauses including 'Although living at same place may prevent them...' and 'some people who live in country side areas may struggle...'. However, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation, particularly missing articles ('find better employment opportunities', 'struggle financial') and prepositions, along with faulty complex structures that require careful reading. To reach the next band, the writer needs to increase the proportion of error-free sentences and demonstrate more consistent control over articles, noun phrases, and basic grammatical patterns.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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