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)

We live in a world where career is the number one priority for an individual, which is, in fact, both good and bad at the same time. People tend to work much more than they are supposed to and thus disrupt their work-life balance.

Comparatively, working longer does have it's own advantages such as having the opportunity of earning more and having and edge over the rest of the crowd. But it does have it's own set of significant disadvantages that one cannot turn a blind eye to. Working longer makes an individual drown too deep into the shackles of work that they lose a sense of themselves and the world. It also enforces an unhealthy feeling of social disconnect, which eventually makes them feel more lonely and depressed. Individuals do not realise when they get trapped in the rat race of "making a career" and then end up sacrificing the true meaning of living.

While working longer might give short-term satisfaction of achievement, in the long run, it starts to make an individual feel burnt out, which also leads to brain fog, thus impacting their basic cognitive abilities such as thinking and decision-making. I am now a devoted believer of a work-life balance lifestyle after facing the long work hours myself, I lost a sense of what it is to be me. I am a very creative person, and my zen activity is crocheting. Crochet brings me peace and tranquillity, but who knew yearning for work would make me sacrifice my art. I started to notice myself being more agitated and disconnected at work and I mistook it as just fatigue. But when this became a repeated cycle, I knew this was not fatigue, it was all the long hours of work and barely giving myself any time to any of my leisure activities.

Fortunately, now the times have changed and a positive attitude towards a work-life balance has become very prominent around the globe. I truly stand by the belief of if an employee is content and healthy, then there is nothing that can hinder the company's growth.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses the prompt well by acknowledging both sides of the argument while clearly stating a position in favor of work-life balance. The ideas are relevant and supported by personal experience, such as the mention of crocheting as a 'zen activity'. However, the development is slightly uneven; while the disadvantages are explored in depth, the advantages are mentioned only briefly in the second paragraph. To reach a higher band, the advantages could be expanded with more specific examples or a more balanced structure. Overall, the position is clear throughout, and the response fulfills the requirements of the task effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the discussion of disadvantages from the personal reflection and the final stance. Cohesive devices such as 'Comparatively', 'While', and 'Fortunately' are used to guide the reader through the argument. However, some transitions could be more sophisticated to improve the flow between sentences. For instance, the transition between the general discussion of burnout and the personal anecdote about crocheting is slightly abrupt. Overall, the progression of ideas is clear and easy to follow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The vocabulary is generally appropriate and conveys the intended meaning well. The student uses some effective collocations and idiomatic expressions, such as 'drown too deep into the shackles of work', 'turn a blind eye', and 'rat race'. There are some minor issues with word choice, such as 'yearning for work' which seems slightly misused in context, and 'zen activity' which is informal. However, the range is sufficient to discuss the topic with some precision. To improve, the student should focus on using more academic collocations and ensuring that idiomatic language is used in the correct register.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several instances of grammatical errors, specifically with possessive pronouns, such as 'it's own advantages' (should be 'its'). Additionally, there are some punctuation issues, such as the comma splice in 'I am now a devoted believer of a work-life balance lifestyle after facing the long work hours myself, I lost a sense of what it is to be me.' Despite these errors, the meaning is never obscured, and the student shows an ability to construct complex sentences. More attention to proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy would improve the score.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.