Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-17

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)

Majority of people prefer working lengthy hours which leaves them with limited time for their leisure activities. In my opinion, the demerits of this scenario outweighs the merits.

For a say, working extended hours can facilitates your chances of getting promotion in company. It definitely helps you in making extra money in addition to your regular pay check. Having said that, extended working hours may bring many perks such as recognition, promotion, higher pay cheques. All of these factors will enhance your financial freedom. However, it will definitely create a dent on your physical and mental well being in long run.

Exploring the downside, it will ruin a person's physical and mental health. As per recent medical research, the leading cause of back pain among people is sitting posture. Sitting for extended hours creates a pressure on our spinal chord. This leads to compression of nerves, and muscles. Let's understand this with example-There is significant rise of working professionals seeking medical help in curing their back pains. Some of these cases have become irreversible and they have wear supporting spine belt for their rest of their life.

Lack of leisure activities increases the stress levels in body which leads to severe complications such as anxiety, depression, and in some cases panic attacks. On a recent survey conducted by medical professionals on young working professionals, it was found that almost 80% of them are experiencing mental fatigue. Remaining 10% of them complained about decline in concentration, and rest 10% are already taking medications for mental issues.

In conclusion, we must strike a perfect balance between achieving a successful corporate career and our overall well-being.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of working long hours, ultimately taking a clear position that the disadvantages outweigh the merits. The ideas are relevant; however, the development is somewhat uneven. The advantages section is repetitive, mentioning 'promotion' and 'pay' multiple times in the same paragraph. The disadvantages section is better developed with specific examples regarding physical health and mental fatigue. To reach a higher band, ensure that each paragraph introduces distinct, well-supported ideas rather than restating the same points, and provide more depth to the 'advantages' argument to balance the essay better.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Having said that', 'However', and 'In conclusion', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical or forced, such as 'For a say' (which is also grammatically incorrect). The progression of ideas is generally clear, but the internal structure of the second paragraph is slightly disjointed due to the repetition of points. Improving the variety of cohesive devices and ensuring smoother transitions between sentences would enhance the overall flow and coherence of the argument.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express their opinion clearly. There are some attempts at less common collocations, such as 'financial freedom' and 'mental fatigue'. However, there are instances of awkward phrasing and word choice errors, such as 'create a dent on your physical and mental well being' and 'curing their back pains'. Additionally, 'For a say' is an incorrect idiomatic expression. While the meaning is always clear, the range of vocabulary is somewhat limited, and the precision of word choice needs improvement to reach a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors throughout the text, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('working extended hours can facilitates', 'demerits... outweighs'), article usage ('a recent survey'), and prepositional errors ('on your physical... well being'). Some sentences are also slightly awkward, such as 'they have wear supporting spine belt'. While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement and the correct use of articles and prepositions.

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.