Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · 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 6.5)

Some individuals prefer to spend their entire lives at their birthplaces. Sense of belonging and affection for place and people are the factors behind this behaviour. Although people can live happily and peacefully at their hometown, they might miss some lifelong opportunities.

Not only the place, but also the neighbours tend to have a great impact on some people's mind for not leaving their place forever. Hometown holds memories and stories, which people have lived already, and these give them sense of belonging and affection to stay there, especially for middle aged residents. It is witnessed that people in their 40s or more are less likely to migrate, because they are afraid to lose people and memories. If such people leave their place, they would be more likely to be homesick and depressed at a new place.

Individual's choice to live at their birthplace forever provides benefits like good social connections and satisfaction by living with their family members and friends. However, this decision can make some people deprived of some opportunities that could help to uplift their lifestyle. If someone want to grow in career, one should have to leave the comfort and move away in the search of job and opportunities. Moreover, his might also affect relationships and with their upcoming generations in long-terms, if they have left behind because of their decision of not migrating. Most probably, in later life new generation can blam them for not being sucessful enough.

In conclusion, although staying forever at the birthplace is beneficial for a happy and social life, looking from the career perspective one need to leave the comfort of home in order to look for opportunities and acheive sucess in life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address all parts of the prompt: you identify belonging, memories and attachment to neighbours as reasons for staying, then discuss social benefits and missed career opportunities. Your position is clear, especially in the conclusion, which contrasts a happy social life with the need to move for work. The discussion is relevant, but some points are more fully explained than others. The reasons are supported with a possible effect—homesickness or depression after moving—whereas the disadvantages rely mainly on general claims about career growth and future generations. The point that children may blame parents is not clearly connected to the earlier argument. To strengthen the response, explain how limited local employment or education can restrict opportunities, and support the generational point with a clearer example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a coherent overall arrangement: an introduction, a paragraph explaining reasons, a paragraph weighing advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. The progression from attachment to place to the consequences of staying is generally easy to follow. You also use linking expressions such as “Although,” “However,” and “Moreover” to signal relationships between ideas. At times, though, cohesion is mechanical or the reference is unclear. For example, “his might also affect relationships” does not clearly identify what “his” refers to, and the final sentence of the third paragraph introduces the next generation without a smooth explanation of the connection. Use clearer pronouns and develop each paragraph around a more explicit sequence of claim, explanation and example.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including “sense of belonging,” “migrate,” “homesick,” “career,” and “opportunities.” These choices help communicate the main ideas, and some less common expressions are attempted. However, several word-choice and collocation problems reduce precision: “on some people's mind” is not a natural expression, “uplift their lifestyle” is awkward in this context, and “in long-terms” is incorrectly formed. There are also spelling errors such as “sucess” and “blam.” These do not prevent understanding, but they limit the accuracy and naturalness of the vocabulary. Aim to learn common word partnerships and proofread spelling and word forms, especially in key claims.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including the concessive opening “Although people can live happily…” and the conditional structure “If such people leave their place…”. Most ideas remain understandable, but some grammatical errors occur in agreement, articles, and sentence construction. For example, “If someone want” should use a singular verb, and “they give them sense of belonging” needs an article before “sense.” The construction “one should have to leave” combines modal forms awkwardly, while “his might also affect” appears to have an incorrect pronoun. These errors rarely block the message, but they make some sentences less controlled. Review subject–verb agreement and modal patterns, and check each sentence for a clear subject and reference.

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