Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-11

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 6.0)

Many people are struggling nowadays to maintain work life balance. Some people Work for long hours thus gets very less time for their hobbies. According to my perspective it has more drawbacks than the benefits. In further paragraphs I will discuss the drawbacks and benefits of this situation.

The main advantage of working for long hours especially for lower level jobs is the pay rate the person gets because working for more than 8 hours in a day in many countries consider as overtime and holidays are also considered as overtime so companies have to pay 1.5 times the actual pay. Moreover ,some jobs are highly demanding such as police officers, army officers so for these jobs they requires to work longer hours as they provide security to public so they also gets extra benefits from governments as well as they are highly reputative.

However, while doing these jobs mostly people forget their personal life and works only to make money for future thus they do not get free time for themselves. Further, they find it hard to manage the work and home responsibilities such as taking care of their child and elders thus get stressed while thinking that they are not doing enough for them. Moreover they work hard that effects their health and neglects that they need to enjoy their present as well while working for future which makes their life bored and mostly people gets in depression because of that as they stay alone most of time that leads to overthinking.

To conclude, we can say that working for long hours makes people stressed and depressed thus a balance should be maintain between working hours and time that they get for some leisure activities so that they enjoy their present life as well while earning for future.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The essay addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of working long hours, ultimately taking a clear position that the drawbacks outweigh the benefits. The ideas are relevant, such as the financial incentives for overtime and the negative impact on mental health and family life. However, the development is somewhat limited; the discussion on advantages is brief and could be more deeply explored with specific examples. The conclusion effectively summarizes the main argument. To reach a higher band, ensure that each point is supported by more detailed explanations or concrete examples to fully develop the argument.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Moreover', 'However', and 'To conclude', which help guide the reader through the argument. However, some transitions feel a bit mechanical, and the flow between sentences could be smoother. For instance, the transition between the discussion of overtime pay and the mention of specific professions like police officers is slightly abrupt. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that each paragraph has a clear topic sentence would enhance the overall coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the student to express their ideas clearly. There are some attempts at using topic-specific vocabulary, such as 'work life balance', 'overtime', and 'leisure activities'. However, there are instances of imprecise word choice and minor errors, such as 'reputative' (instead of 'reputable' or 'respected') and 'mostly people' (instead of 'most people'). The range of vocabulary is somewhat limited, relying on common terms. To improve, the student should focus on using more precise collocations and a wider range of academic vocabulary to convey ideas with greater sophistication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay 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., 'they requires', 'people gets', 'a balance should be maintain') and article usage. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with some missing commas after introductory phrases. These errors do not significantly impede communication, but they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and ensuring consistent verb forms would significantly improve the accuracy of the writing.

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