Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-21

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 prefer to stay in their hometown throughtout their lives. Several reasons are responsible for this behavior such as flexibility and family support. This trend has advantages like people may have secure and flexible life in their birth-place. However, individuals may restrict their professional growth by staying in their hometown and also have a less oppurtunity to exlpore different cultures.

Firtstly, people prefer to spend their most of the lives in their birth places.This may provide them wide range of flexibility in their towns. It is easier to find basic facilities of in our own town than living in a different city or country. For example, citizens who grew in the same town and lived their most of their life there have a good idea about the places for grocery shoping, frequency of the public transport and other civic buildings. Secondly, other reason could be a family support, which makes them to live near to their hometown. Many people can not leave their family alone because they have older family members and have to take care of them.

There are numerous advantages and disadvantages of this trend. One of the main advantages is people who live closer to the place they were born may have a secure life. They get a chance to live with their friends and relatives, which provides a biggest emotional support and a strength to fight agianst any kind of problems in the life. For instance, as loved ones live closer, they can help individuals to resolve problems related to health or financial. People who lives in thier homwtown may have a flexible life style, because family members share all household responsibilities among them. Furthermore, people who stays in their hometown may not get a chance to explore the world and various culutres.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions and give relevant reasons, including familiarity with local facilities and responsibility for older relatives. You also identify benefits such as emotional support and shared household duties, and a drawback in limited cultural exposure. However, the discussion is uneven: the reasons are explained more clearly than the disadvantages, which are only briefly mentioned, and the effect on professional growth appears in the introduction but is not developed later. Examples such as knowing local transport and shops help make one point concrete, but other claims would benefit from similarly specific support. To strengthen the response, explain how staying local can limit career options and develop the cultural disadvantage with a clear example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction followed by paragraphs on reasons and advantages and disadvantages. Sequencing words such as “Firstly,” “Secondly,” and “Furthermore” help signal the direction of the discussion. However, the final body paragraph combines several advantages with a disadvantage, so the shift in focus is abrupt, and the essay ends without a concluding summary. Some links are also repetitive or mechanical, particularly the repeated use of “people” and “hometown.” Organise the advantages and disadvantages into clearly separated sections or paragraphs, use pronouns and varied linking expressions where their references are clear, and add a brief conclusion that restates the main points.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “family support,” “emotional support,” “public transport,” and “professional growth.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “civic buildings” and “household responsibilities.” However, spelling errors and imprecise or unnatural combinations are noticeable, for example “throughtout,” “oppurtunity,” “exlpore,” and “a biggest emotional support.” Some wording is also repetitive, especially “people” and “hometown,” which limits flexibility. These choices do not prevent the reader from understanding the overall message, but they sometimes make it less fluent. Check spelling carefully and learn common collocations, such as “a greater opportunity” and “explore other cultures,” then vary repeated terms with accurate alternatives.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including a relative clause in “friends and relatives, which provides…” and a reason clause beginning “because family members share…”. However, errors occur across sentence patterns and sometimes make the wording difficult to follow. Examples include “people who lives” and “people who stays,” where the verb does not agree with the plural subject, and “their most of their life,” which has an incorrect structure. Articles and prepositions are also problematic in phrases such as “a good idea about the places” and “facilities of in our own town.” Practise subject–verb agreement, possessive structures, and article and preposition patterns. Proofreading each sentence for its subject and verb would improve accuracy.

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