Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-07

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)

Leisure activities are essential to create a balance in life, however, numerous people ignore them to, instead, work and earn extra money. Although their choice might indeed provide them with more pay and better opportunities for future careers, it does stress them and may even lead them to be depressed. Hence, in my opinion, this situation might have greater demerits than merits, because generally being a psychologically healthy person is the most important feature to proceed in life.

Deciding to leave aside leisure activities to accomplish more work may allow a person to reach their own dream jobs. In other words, those ambitious population may get their education in a shorter period than the normal one; along with several additional courses and volunteering hours. For example, a student might cancel her plans with her friends to stay at home to find a new volunteering opportunity to build her CV.

Despite the merits of working overtime, labouring more than eight hours a day can generate negative emotions which may eventually develop to become depression. To illustrate, those side effects might be generated because those extra hardworking populations lack happy emotions on a daily basis. For instance, a person who is sitting on a computer completing tasks without any break hours would get angrier for any slightest reason. As a result, its disadvantages are way farther than its advantages.

To conclude, a large number of people tend to overwork rather than have some fun time. Even though they might achieve generally greater accomplishments, they still will experience stress and may even be depressed. Because of such reason, I believe fun activities have more negative sides than positive ones.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt and maintains a clear position throughout. You have identified both the advantages (career progression, CV building) and the disadvantages (stress, mental health issues) before concluding that the disadvantages outweigh the benefits. The ideas are relevant and generally well-supported, though the development could be more nuanced. For instance, the example of a student cancelling plans to volunteer is a good start, but could be expanded to explain how this specifically impacts long-term well-being. The conclusion is consistent with your stated position, ensuring the task is fully addressed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You use cohesive devices such as 'Although', 'In other words', 'Despite', and 'To illustrate' to connect ideas. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical or repetitive, such as the use of 'For instance' and 'To illustrate' in close proximity. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the advantages from the disadvantages. To reach a higher band, ensure that the flow between sentences is more varied and that referencing is consistently precise throughout the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, including terms like 'psychologically healthy', 'ambitious', and 'accomplishments'. There are some instances of slightly unnatural word choices, such as 'those ambitious population' (should be 'those ambitious people' or 'that ambitious demographic') and 'its disadvantages are way farther than its advantages' (a more natural phrasing would be 'the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages'). While the vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, incorporating more precise collocations and less common academic vocabulary would enhance your score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While your meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical slips. For example, 'those ambitious population' involves a number agreement error, and 'the normal one' is slightly awkward in this context. You also have some minor punctuation and phrasing issues, such as 'Because of such reason' (should be 'For this reason'). While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher band. Focus on subject-verb agreement and refining your use of articles and prepositions.

See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.

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