Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-14

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)

Living in the same city where we born has many benefits in life. As already seen people have natural bonding with their native places, friends in the school, neighbourhood. coaching classes. This create a close circle of friends, family and relative support group which helps keep them close to the comunity and feels complete not only in an economic perspective. This essay will discuss both pros and cons on the above topic.

Talking about the advantages; first living in the hometown in todays time is economical to an individual. Also, some people spent good time with the family if there university is in the state by not going in debt from an education loan. Living expenses could be saved and that money invested stratgically gives a big headstart to start a new life when getting married and settling in new home.

Some shortfalls could be not meeting to enough people of different ideology that sometime had major effect on the view of living life. As one feels not confident to settle in another city at later stage in life with question of making new friends again which is very difficult after certain age. To illustrate, a friend of mine got a job at age of 34 earning in top 2 percent of country but still fill hollow and scared of the insecurities of not having social circle around.

Overall, the advantage outweighs disadvantages as I have came across enough people in my life who are more happy living with their loved ones nearby and meeting more often then just a Thanksgiving or on Christmas.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the main requested elements by discussing reasons for staying near one’s birthplace and giving advantages and disadvantages. Family ties, lower costs and difficulty forming a new social circle are relevant points, and the example of your friend helps illustrate the disadvantage. However, the reasons for remaining close to home are not clearly separated from the advantages, and the discussion of disadvantages is narrower and less developed than the advantages. The opening also promises to discuss both sides but does not establish a clear overall position until the conclusion. Develop each main idea with a clearer explanation and a specific example, and make your position explicit from the introduction.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a concluding opinion. This makes the overall arrangement coherent. Some progression is less clear, however: the opening moves from childhood friendships to community support and then economic security without showing how these points connect to the reasons people stay. Linking phrases such as “Talking about the advantages” and “Some shortfalls” help signal sections, but the essay relies on these formulaic transitions, and references such as “This” in “This create a close circle” are not always clear. Organise each body paragraph around one central idea and use more precise links to show cause, contrast and consequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “native places,” “education loan,” “social circle,” “insecurities” and “loved ones.” These choices allow you to discuss both financial and social aspects of staying near home. However, the range is limited in places, and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or unclear, such as “natural bonding,” “feels complete not only in an economic perspective” and “fill hollow.” Spelling errors, including “comunity,” “stratgically” and “there” for “their,” also reduce control. Aim for more precise expressions such as “strong attachment to one’s hometown” and “feel a sense of belonging,” and check spelling and collocations during revision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more extended sentence forms, including a conditional idea about studying in one’s home state and a relative clause in “a friend of mine got a job … earning in top 2 percent.” However, errors in sentence structure and basic grammar are frequent enough to make some passages difficult to follow. Examples include “where we born,” “This create,” “if there university is,” and “I have came across”; these require correct verb forms, agreement and possessives. Some sentences also lack clear grammatical connections, particularly the opening sentence about support and feeling complete. Practise accurate subject–verb agreement, articles and verb forms, then check each sentence for a complete, clearly connected structure.

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