Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-10

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)

Some people like to spend their whole life living close to where they were born. There are few reasons of this trend. An advantages and disadvantages are connected with this issue.

The main reason of living in the area where they were born is to connect with the childhood memories. Since, most people are connected with their roots as they only like the place where they were born. In addition to it, the property passed from one generation to another could also be the reason of staying in the same place. For example, if people are moving to another places, they have to sell their property, which was earned by their grandparents.

The main advantages of living close to the birthing area is to get help or support from the paternal family. If any problem occurs, people can ask for help to their extended family rather than getting help from the neighbours. Another advantage is that, they do not need to buy a new house as they already have their own house from their parents. The disadvantages of living close where they were born is that people can lag behind if there are not much opportunities in the specific area. Another drawback of not moving from the place they were born is that they may stuck in a comfortable zone, which would ultimately affect on the growth of people. For instance, If people is born in rural area and do not want to move in the city for studies or work, they cannot fulfill their dreams or become a succesfull person.

In conclusion, while there are aplenty of reasons why people spend their life where they were born, but its advantages and disadvantages also play an important role in people's life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both questions: you identify childhood attachment and inherited property as reasons, then discuss family support and housing costs as advantages, alongside limited opportunities and reduced personal growth as disadvantages. These points are relevant and your rural-to-city example helps illustrate the latter. However, some ideas are asserted rather than fully explained. For instance, the link between childhood memories and staying nearby could be clarified, and the claim that people may not “become a successful person” is broad and would benefit from a specific outcome or example. The conclusion summarises the topic but does not clearly weigh the advantages against the disadvantages. Develop each main point with a clearer explanation to make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure, with an introduction, a paragraph explaining reasons, a paragraph covering both advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. The sequence is generally easy to follow, and signposts such as “In addition to it,” “Another advantage,” and “Another drawback” help readers track the discussion. At times, however, the linking feels mechanical, and some references are unclear: “this issue” in the introduction is vague, while “the birthing area” is an awkward reference to the place of birth. The advantages and disadvantages are also combined in one long paragraph, so the shift between them could be more clearly marked. Use more precise referencing and consider separating these sides into distinct paragraphs.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “childhood memories,” “extended family,” “opportunities,” and “comfortable zone.” There are also attempts at less common expressions, such as “passed from one generation to another.” However, several word choices and collocations are unnatural or imprecise, including “reasons of this trend,” “birthing area,” and “affect on the growth.” “Aplenty of reasons” is also an unsuitable choice for this formal essay, and “succesfull” contains a spelling error. These issues do not prevent understanding, but they limit precision and naturalness. Focus on standard collocations and accurate word forms, for example, “reasons for this trend” and “affect people’s development.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a conditional example beginning “if people are moving to another places” and a relative clause in “property, which was earned by their grandparents.” This shows some range, but errors in agreement, articles, verb forms, and sentence construction are noticeable. Examples include “An advantages and disadvantages are,” “people may stuck,” and “If people is born.” The opening “Since, most people…” is also incorrectly punctuated and forms an incomplete sentence. These errors sometimes make the reader pause, although the main meaning is usually recoverable. Practise checking subject–verb agreement and complete clause structure, and revise complex sentences carefully so that added clauses remain grammatically controlled.

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

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