Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-07

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)

Individuals spend their whole lives in one place where they were grown up since childhood. This can happen for several reasons such as strong family connections, familiarity with the local community and stable employment. Although staying in one place has several advantages, it can also have some disadvantages.

One major reason people remain near their birthplace is their attachment to family and friends. They may want to stay close to their parents, relatives and childhood friends, especially when they become older. Another reason is that people feel comfortable in familiar surroundings. They already build network with people and know the local language, culture and facilities. In addition, some people have stable jobs or businesses in their hometown, so they may not have a strong reason to move elsewhere.

There are several advantages to living close to one's birthplace. First, people can receive emotional and practical support from their family and friends. For instance, parents can help their children with childcare while adult children can look after their elderly parents. People can also feel the strong sense on familiarity because they know their neighbours and local community as well. However, their are disadvantages too. Staying in the same place limit career opportunity, particularly if local area has fewer jobs. It can also prevent people from experiencing different cultures and become more independent.

In conclusion, people often stay close to their birthplace because of familiarity, family ties and employment. This life style provide strong social support and comfortable environment, but also it can limit career development and personal experience. In my opinion, staying near one's hometown is beneficial if good employment and educational opportunities are available there.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task: it gives several reasons for staying near one’s birthplace, discusses benefits and drawbacks, and states a personal view in the conclusion. The family-support example—parents helping with childcare and adult children caring for elderly parents—usefully develops one advantage. The reasons of familiarity and employment are relevant, but are mostly listed rather than illustrated or explained in depth. The disadvantages are also identified, especially limited career opportunities and reduced cultural experience, though these points receive less support than the advantages. The conclusion gives a clear, conditional position. To strengthen the response further, extend the less-developed ideas with a specific example or explanation of how local job markets or limited exposure affect people’s choices and lives.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on reasons, a paragraph comparing advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Ideas generally progress logically, and signposting such as “One major reason,” “In addition,” and “However” helps readers follow the discussion. The family-support example is placed appropriately within the advantages. Some connections are less smooth: “People can also feel the strong sense on familiarity” repeats an idea from the reasons paragraph, and the shift from advantages to disadvantages could be more clearly developed. The conclusion restates the main points effectively, although “but also it can” is an awkward link. Use referencing and transitions more precisely, and organise each paragraph around a distinct point to make progression more flexible.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for discussing family ties, community, work and personal development. Phrases such as “emotional and practical support,” “stable jobs or businesses,” and “career opportunity” communicate relevant ideas, while “familiar surroundings” and “local community” suit the topic. There are some inaccurate word choices, forms and collocations that reduce naturalness: “where they were grown up,” “build network,” “strong sense on familiarity,” and “life style provide” are examples. “Prevent people from experiencing different cultures and become more independent” also uses an uneven phrase pattern. These do not prevent understanding, but they limit precision and flexibility. Build accuracy by learning common collocations as complete phrases and checking whether nouns are countable and whether the chosen preposition fits the expression.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response uses a mix of simple and complex structures, including a relative clause (“where they were grown up”), a conditional clause (“if good employment and educational opportunities are available there”), and a contrast introduced by “Although.” Most sentences remain understandable, but some grammatical errors recur. Examples include “they already build network,” where the verb form and article are incorrect, “their are disadvantages,” which confuses “there” and “their,” and “Staying in the same place limit,” where the singular subject requires a singular verb. “This life style provide” has the same agreement issue, and “prevent people from experiencing … and become” lacks parallel structure. Review subject–verb agreement, articles, verb forms and parallel constructions, then proofread for these patterns.

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