Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-04

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)

There is no denying fact that the phenomena of spending long hours at work and less time to family, hobbies and other activities is ubiquitous across the globe due to its importance. Majority of folks are in the against of the this statement due to its number of cons. However some of the people highlights its merits as well. In my further paragraphs advantages and disadvantages of same will be discussed.

Starting with the advantages of working more hours, the first and foremost key positive is financial benefits. Employee of work extra hours after regular hours , often recieve additional pay which helps them to support their life in future such as buying house , supporting child's educations. Moreover, working extra time shows commitment which can helps to get recognitions and promotions to higher positions. For example, people who works in financial and technology often work beyond their limit to gain experience and excel in their career.

However, these benefits are overshadowed by the negative consequences. Firstly, Working longer hours can create mental and physical health problems . A lack of proper rest and sleep can create more adverse impact on health, physically and mentally both. Burnout, absentism and less productivity at work are the prime example of mental and physicall illness.

Another dark side is the improper work-life balance is less active time for family, which creates massive impact on family and closed relations. People working long hours often ended up with low management of relationships not only with freinds and family but also less opportunities to enlarge thier intrests and hobbies, as a result they feel loneliness and dissatisfaction with life due to unhealthy working hours.

In conclusion to the above statement, neither the cons can be negelected nor its pros. It is a bag of both and in my opinion a middle ground can be generated with proper balance between work and personal life by having terms in life like ghosting after work hours

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of working long hours. The position is clear throughout, and the ideas are relevant. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited; for instance, the explanation of 'financial benefits' and 'health problems' could be more deeply explored with more specific, nuanced examples. The conclusion introduces a somewhat confusing term ('ghosting') which does not clearly relate to the previous arguments, suggesting a slight lack of focus in the final summary. Overall, the response meets the requirements of the task well.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. Cohesive devices such as 'Starting with', 'Moreover', 'However', and 'In conclusion' are used to guide the reader through the argument. While the progression is generally clear, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing (e.g., 'the same will be discussed'). Paragraphing is used appropriately, and the overall structure supports the development of the argument effectively.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task. The student attempts to use some less common items like 'ubiquitous', 'overshadowed', and 'dissatisfaction', which demonstrates a reasonable level of lexical control. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'in the against of the this statement', 'absentism', and 'physicall'. These errors do not impede communication, but they do highlight a need for more precision and attention to spelling and standard English phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'some of the people highlights', 'people who works') and article usage ('the phenomena', 'the against'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with several instances of misplaced spaces before commas. Despite these errors, the student demonstrates an ability to construct complex sentences, and the communication of ideas remains largely unaffected by the grammatical slips.

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