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)

Undoubtedly, family plays important roles in every persons life. However, few folks like to live near the place where they was born. There are several reasons of it because person get emotional support while live near to their birth place but there are some drawbacks of it such as miss better job opportunities that i am going to discuss in upcoming paragraph.

To commence with, the benefits of living near to birthplace. The first and foremost one is they get emotional support because on that place every person know them when ever they need any kind of support such as financially or emotionally they get. Secondly, person who live near to place where they was born are connected with their culture and also have a job and home security. They don't need to worry about job or for living expenses because living on a specific place from years of time they have their own business and home. For example, study conducted by university of united states shows that person who live near to their birth place have less worries who live far from their hometown.

There are also many disadvantages of living near to birthplace, person only have limited job opportunities because if person move forward from their hometown they explore so many new job opportunities instead of depending on one job with same earnings. It is also hard for them to move other place because they are emotionally connected with that place that may cause problem when they need to move for another place. they cant become independently strong while, stay on other place because he is used to his comfort zone and also miss opportunity to explore other cultures .

To conclude, staying near to birthplace provide them financial and emotional support to person because staying on same place from long time they have good connections with other individuals but staying on same place they can't become independently strong .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both questions by giving reasons for staying near one’s birthplace and discussing advantages and disadvantages. Emotional support, cultural connection, security, and restricted job opportunities are relevant points. However, the reasons for staying are not clearly separated from the advantages, and the opening mainly announces what you will discuss rather than establishing a clear, sustained position. Several ideas remain general: for example, the claim that residents have “job and home security” would be stronger with a specific explanation or example. The university study is mentioned, but its relevance and details are unclear. Develop fewer points more fully, and make the reasons for remaining in one’s hometown explicit as well as evaluating the benefits and drawbacks.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on benefits, one on disadvantages, and a conclusion. Sequencing phrases such as “To commence with,” “Secondly,” and “To conclude” help signal these stages. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear, and the introduction’s promise to discuss reasons is not followed by a distinct explanation of them. Some links are mechanical or imprecise, such as “There are several reasons of it because,” while the long sentence beginning “There are also many disadvantages” combines several points without clear boundaries. References such as “that place” and “they” can also be vague. Use clearer topic sentences and divide related ideas into shorter, logically connected sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “emotional support,” “job opportunities,” “culture,” and “comfort zone,” so the main ideas are generally understandable. However, the range is limited and several expressions are repeated, particularly “place,” “birthplace,” and “support.” There are also noticeable word-choice and collocation problems, such as “reasons of it,” “job and home security,” and “living expenses” in a context where the intended meaning is not always precise. Spelling and capitalisation are inconsistent, including “cant” and “united states.” Aim for more precise phrases such as “remain in their hometown,” “local employment prospects,” and “a strong sense of belonging,” while checking spelling and avoiding repeated wording.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including clauses with “because” and “when,” but control is inconsistent. Errors in agreement and verb forms appear in phrases such as “every person know them,” “they was born,” and “person get emotional support.” Articles, plurals, and sentence boundaries also need attention: “family plays important roles” and “To commence with, the benefits…” are not well formed, while the disadvantages paragraph contains a run-on sequence. Capitalisation and punctuation are sometimes inaccurate, as in the lowercase “they” after a full stop and the missing apostrophe in “cant.” Practise accurate subject–verb agreement and complete sentence structures before adding more complex clauses; clearer punctuation will make your meaning easier to follow.

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