Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-11-08

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Many people work long hours, leaving very little time for leisure activities.

Does this situation have more advantages or more disadvantages?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Some people partake in long working hours which takes most of their day or week, leaving less time for leisure activities. It has some advantages and disadvantages, and I think the drawbacks easily outweight the positive outcome it may have.

On the positive note, working long hours is mostly accepted as it brings in more money. People with low income agree working late or overtime in order to increase their income. It helps them stay afloat and clear their dues. For example, someone trying to fulfill their basic necessity or pay utility bill would work a couple hours of overtime. People also accept extra responsibility to learn new concepts or skills, which is in most cases acceptable. Mainly because they are working to improve their knowledge and skill set. It is going to help them grow effectively for thr future to come.

On the other hand, it brings a number of issues. People working late face time management issues and may miss important events of their families. They often return tired after working too much, affecting their relationships and health. For instance, a person working extra hours may have a miss a game for their child or may get sick by working a lot for a long period of time.

While working extra brings in some extra cash or temporary benefit, it results in devastating consequences in the long run. It can be fine occasionally but frequent overtime results in employees getting exhausted and burned out. The affect on both physical and mental health cannot be measured and may cause irreversible damage.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear from the introduction: the disadvantages “easily outweight” the benefits, and the conclusion reinforces that view. You address both sides with relevant points, including higher income and skill development as benefits, and reduced family time, exhaustion, and health risks as drawbacks. This covers the task well. However, some ideas are less fully developed than others: the claim that extra responsibility builds skills is asserted but not illustrated, while the health consequences are described broadly rather than explained with a specific example. To strengthen the response, extend each main point through a clearer cause-and-effect explanation or a concrete example, while keeping your overall position consistent.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph presenting advantages, a paragraph on disadvantages, and a concluding judgement. Transitions such as “On the positive note” and “On the other hand” make the shift between sides easy to follow, and the final paragraph returns to your central view. The progression is generally logical, though the conclusion partly repeats the previous paragraph’s points about temporary benefits and long-term harm. Some links within paragraphs could also be more explicit—for example, the move from extra income to accepting responsibility for skill development introduces a separate benefit without clearly connecting it to the first. Grouping related ideas and using a more developed concluding synthesis would make the progression more seamless.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of vocabulary for the topic, including “overtime,” “income,” “responsibility,” “exhausted,” and “burned out.” These choices help communicate the main ideas, and some phrases, such as “stay afloat,” show an attempt to use less common language. However, several word-choice, spelling, or collocation problems reduce precision: “outweight” should be “outweigh,” “basic necessity” is more naturally plural here, and “the affect on” should be “the effect on.” Phrases such as “grow effectively for the future to come” are also awkward and unclear. Aim for more natural combinations and check spelling and word forms carefully; this would make your vocabulary more precise without requiring unnecessarily complex wording.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including relative clauses (“People working late face time management issues and may miss important events of their families”) and a concessive structure (“While working extra brings in some extra cash…”). Most of the meaning remains clear, but some grammatical errors are present. For example, “may have a miss a game” contains an unnecessary article, and “important events of their families” has an unclear grammatical relationship; “important family events” would be clearer. The sentence beginning “Mainly because they are working…” is a fragment, and “someone trying to fulfill their basic necessity or pay utility bill” has article and number problems. Work on complete sentence construction, articles, and plural forms while retaining your varied sentence patterns.

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