Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

In this fast pace world, where people move from one country to another to build their life, few people wants to live near their hometown. There are significant amount of reasons behind this and its benefits outweights drawbacks.

First of all, the main reason reason people choose to live near they born is the time and convenience they have to spend time with their family and friends. Even though many people have migrated to another city in order to build their career and lifestyle they have always wanted, they will not able to find quality time which they could have spend with their loved one, if they would have stayed nearby. Secondly, some people are to scared to try something new in their life, as a result they ended up staying in their comfort zones. For example, one of my friend had a biggest business opportunity recently where he has to relocated to Mumbai, but instead he chose his job near his hometown.

However, staying near the place you were born have plenty of advantages not in terms of time one can spend with their family, but also if someone has buisness mindset. By spending most of their childhood and adulthood at one place, one can have immense knowledge about the market around them. This is opens up lots of golden opportunity to not only be successful in life, but also at the same time spend time to their loved ones. To illistarte this, after completing graduation my brother had enough skills and knowledge regarding the business ideas around my hometown and as doing so he is now more successful than the people who came from another city.

To conclude, not only choosing places near their home allows people to give time to their family and friends, but also opens up golden opportunity for starting any business.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions by giving reasons for staying near one’s birthplace and discussing benefits, including family contact, familiarity with the local market, and business opportunities. The examples about your friend and brother make the ideas more concrete. However, the task asks for both advantages and disadvantages, and the response mainly presents advantages; the disadvantage is only hinted at through the friend’s decision and is not explained as a general drawback. Some reasoning is also under-developed, such as why fear of change leads people to stay. Develop both sides explicitly and make your overall position clearer: the introduction says benefits outweigh drawbacks, but the conclusion does not return to that comparison. This would make the response more complete and better supported.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion. Sequencing phrases such as “First of all,” “Secondly,” “However,” and “To conclude” help signal the stages of your argument. However, progression is not always clear: the paragraph beginning “However” discusses advantages rather than a disadvantage, so the relationship between paragraphs is confusing. The conclusion repeats the benefits but does not summarise the reasons or address the drawbacks. Some links within sentences are also awkward, and repeated references to family time and business opportunities make the development feel repetitive. Use each paragraph for a distinct purpose—reasons, advantages, and disadvantages—and connect examples directly to the point they illustrate.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “migrated,” “career,” “comfort zones,” “market,” and “business opportunity,” which helps communicate the main ideas. There are also attempts at more expressive phrases such as “golden opportunity” and “immense knowledge.” However, the range is limited by repeated wording, especially “spend time,” “near,” and “opportunity,” and several word-choice, collocation, and spelling errors reduce precision. Examples include “fast pace world,” “scared to try,” “illistarte,” and “buisness.” Some phrases, such as “build their life,” are not natural in this context. Aim for accurate, natural combinations and vary repeated terms—for example, describe local familiarity as “knowledge of the local market” and use “relocate” or “settle” where appropriate.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including clauses with “Even though,” “as a result,” and “not only…but also.” However, complex structures are often faulty, and errors occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to follow. For example, “people choose to live near they born” needs a relative construction such as “near where they were born,” while “they will not able” is missing “be.” There are also agreement and verb-form problems in “staying near the place you were born have” and “he has to relocated.” Articles and conditional forms are also unreliable, as in “a biggest business opportunity” and “if they would have stayed.” Practise accurate clause patterns and check subject–verb agreement, auxiliaries, articles, and tense consistency.

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