Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-09

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)

Several individuals live almost all their lives around areas when they were born and there are several reasons for this. People may choose to stay close to their birth place if they have family there and also to be around familiar culture and environment.

Some of the benefits of living in such areas include being with family and friends and saving costs. For example, I was born in Nigeria and had to move abroad to study and that era of my life was quite difficult as I was away from everyone and everything I knew. I was in a strange land and experienced some culture shock, with little emotional support, which is part of the reasons I decided to move back home after graduating to be around the people I love. Furthermore, it saves cost as one could easily remain in their family houses until they are financially capable or even eat there when they are short of money.

Despite its advantages, it has it's downside such as not getting to explore other parts of the World. For instance, I once read an article written by an 80 years old man about how much he regrets not leaving his town, where he was born and bred just because he felt too comfortable there and was too scared of the different cultures and ideologies out there. He mentioned that he would often sit and think about how much of the beautiful World he had missed because he felt it was already too late for him.

To conclude, there are several reasons why people may choose to remain in their place of birth and some of the advantages include remaining in familiar environments around loved ones and saving cost and the disadvantages include not experiencing other people, lifestyle and not seeing much of the World.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

You address all parts of the prompt: you give reasons for staying near one’s birthplace, discuss advantages and disadvantages, and support these points with personal and reported examples. The reasons—family ties and familiarity—are clear, while the benefits are extended through your experience of studying abroad and returning home. The disadvantage is also illustrated effectively through the older man’s regret. To strengthen the response further, develop the reasons more fully: for example, explain how family responsibilities, employment, or financial constraints can influence the decision. Some points, such as “saving cost,” are relevant but could be explained more precisely. Overall, the response maintains a clear focus and supports its main ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response has a clear overall progression: an introduction, a paragraph on advantages, a paragraph on disadvantages, and a conclusion. Each body paragraph has a central focus, and examples are placed where they support the relevant point. Linking expressions such as “For example,” “Furthermore,” “Despite its advantages,” and “To conclude” help guide the reader. To make the organisation more flexible and polished, avoid relying mainly on explicit transition phrases and use clearer links between related ideas. The opening repeats “several” and could move more directly from the reasons to the essay’s structure. In the conclusion, the list of disadvantages is compressed; briefly restating the main contrast would create a more balanced ending.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

Your vocabulary is adequate for discussing the topic, and you use some effective expressions, including “culture shock,” “emotional support,” “financially capable,” and “born and bred.” These choices help convey personal experience and the consequences of staying in one place. However, some wording is imprecise or repetitive: “around areas when they were born” is awkward, and “saving cost” is not a natural collocation. “World” is unnecessarily capitalised, while “different cultures and ideologies out there” is broad and could be more specific. Aim for more precise topic vocabulary and natural collocations, such as describing attachment to a community or the cost of relocating. These refinements would make your ideas sound more fluent and controlled.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional phrasing (“if they have family there”) and longer sentences that explain cause and effect. Meaning remains clear throughout. Some grammatical errors persist, however. In “it has it's downside,” the possessive should be “its,” and “an 80 years old man” needs the plural form “80-year-old.” The phrase “one could easily remain … or even eat there” shifts from a general subject to an unclear reference, and “the reasons I decided” would be more complete as “the reasons why I decided.” There is also a comma splice in the final sentence, where two independent ideas are joined without a suitable conjunction or punctuation. More consistent control of these details, alongside varied sentence structures, would improve accuracy.

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

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