Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-08

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 5.0)

Nowadays, Some individuals have started giving a big chunk of their time to their work and left with no time for other activities. Although spending more time at work give you several benefits like financial stability and to achieve your career goals, It is also beneficial to spend some time doing recreational activities to have better health and to learn other skills. In this essay, I will be discussing why disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

On the one hand, Spending long hours at work give you financial freedom. People who work more, often earn more than those who work less. Financial stability provide more chances to individuals to fulfil their dreams. for example, by having more money to spend they can fulfil their dreams. In addition, devoting more time while working help people to pursue their career ambitions.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.0

The response is significantly under the 250-word minimum requirement, which severely impacts the development of ideas. While you have introduced the topic and stated a position, the essay is incomplete. You have only begun to discuss the advantages and have not provided the necessary counter-arguments or a conclusion. Because the response is less than 150 words, it is impossible to fully develop the task, leading to a low score for task achievement. To improve, you must ensure you provide a balanced discussion with supporting examples and a clear conclusion, ensuring you meet the minimum word count to allow for full development of your arguments.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay shows some basic logical organization with a clear introduction and the start of a body paragraph. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand' and 'In addition' to link ideas. However, because the essay is unfinished, the overall progression is interrupted. Paragraphing is present, but the lack of a full structure makes it difficult to assess your ability to manage cohesion over a complete piece of writing. To improve, focus on structuring your essay into clear paragraphs: an introduction, two body paragraphs (one for each side of the argument), and a conclusion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is generally appropriate for the topic, such as 'financial stability', 'career goals', and 'recreational activities'. However, the range is quite limited, and there is some repetition of basic words like 'time' and 'work'. There are also minor errors in word choice, such as 'devoting more time while working help', where the verb agreement is incorrect. To achieve a higher band, you should aim to incorporate more precise, topic-specific vocabulary and avoid repeating the same words throughout your response.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are several grammatical errors in the text, particularly regarding subject-verb agreement. For example, 'spending more time at work give you' should be 'gives you', and 'Financial stability provide' should be 'provides'. Additionally, there are punctuation errors, such as the unnecessary capitalization of 'Some' and 'It' in the middle of sentences. While you attempt some complex structures, the frequency of these basic errors is noticeable. Focusing on proofreading your work for subject-verb agreement and basic sentence punctuation will help improve your accuracy significantly.

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

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