Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-23

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)

Nowadays, many individual shifted their life dedicated to their work instead of focusing balanced work-life routine. While this might have more financial benefites, I belive it has more disadvantages over it advantages such as physical health and personal relationship.

Firstly, working for long hours consistently can leads to serious physical and mental health issues. They can loose their focus and at some point they end up with burnout, fatigue and even chronic health issues. For instance, in manufacturing industries many operators tends to work for long shifts which leads them to compromised with their physic and less focused at work. Ultimately, it leads to an accidents and serious injuries.

Secondly, long working hours often come with the cost of compromising their leasuire time. Eventually it makes them more isolated and loosing their emotional bond with their loved ones. For example, if a person working for long hours can cause them tiredness and keeps them exahusted which, eventually, makes them to spent most of their free time to rest instead spending those periods with their families and friends, especially, at family function gathering, leading to feelings of isolation despite being financially successful.

In conclusion, although working long hours may improve a person's financial stability, I believe it does more harm than good overall. As discussed, the constant lack of rest and free time can lead to burnout and declining physical health, while reduced time with family and friends can weaken important relationships. These negative effects, in my view, outweigh the short-term financial benefits that come with extra income, making this a situation with far more disadvantages than advantages.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, clearly stating a position that the disadvantages of long working hours outweigh the advantages. The ideas are relevant and logically developed, focusing on physical health and personal relationships. However, the development is somewhat repetitive, and the examples provided, such as the manufacturing industry, are a bit generic. To reach a higher band, you should aim to extend your arguments with more nuanced analysis or specific, real-world examples that demonstrate a deeper understanding of the socio-economic implications of long working hours.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each paragraph has a central topic, and cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'In conclusion' are used to guide the reader. However, the use of cohesive devices is sometimes mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing and flow. For instance, the phrase 'over it advantages' in the introduction is awkward and disrupts the cohesion. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring smoother transitions between sentences would enhance the overall flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'financial stability' and 'compromised', but there are also several spelling and collocation errors, such as 'benefites', 'leasuire', 'exahusted', and 'loosing' (instead of 'losing'). These errors do not impede communication, but they do limit the score. To improve, focus on mastering the spelling of common academic words and refining your use of collocations to sound more natural.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

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., 'many individual shifted', 'operators tends to work') and verb forms (e.g., 'can leads to', 'makes them to spent'). These errors are noticeable but do not prevent the reader from understanding the argument. To achieve a higher band, you need to demonstrate better control over complex structures and ensure that basic grammatical rules, such as pluralization and verb tense consistency, are applied accurately.

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

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