Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-27

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 5.5)

In the sophisticated generation, everyone has to work hard to secure future for themself and their family as well. A few number of people prefer to spent more time on their corporate duties rather than spending good quality period with their relative or their own hobbies. From my perspective this tread has a multiple drawback than benefits.

To commence with the view, employees work more than 8 hours in a day for earning a good money, moreover, workforce do overtime sometimes for getting higher pay. However, staff has to handle more mental stress, which affect their personal life and mental health as well. For instance, if any corporate people spend more time on the workplace rather than spending a time with their own family as a result, that workers will not able to balance his work-life.

Although, human bodies feel more physical pain, such as backpain, neck pain, and many more internal injuries, therefore, they have to visit the hospitals and have to pay more medical bills than actual income. General workers forget about their own favorite hobbies, which make them more happy, relax and peaceful. For example, locals do not follow their passion due to the heavy workload as a consequence, they feel depressed, lonely and anxiety.

To recapitulate, an employment is an essential for making good income. One the other hand, hobbies and good quality time are the very important to maintain healthy work-life. Folk should work for 8 hours for the weekdays, also weekend and public holidays should be spent as a vacation.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position that long working hours have more disadvantages. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention mental stress and physical health issues, the arguments are repetitive and lack depth. For instance, the point about 'internal injuries' and 'medical bills' is a bit vague and could have been better supported with a more concrete example of how this impacts productivity or long-term career satisfaction. To reach a higher band, ensure that each paragraph provides a distinct, well-elaborated point rather than restating the same general concerns about stress and health.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. You use some cohesive devices like 'To commence with', 'However', and 'To recapitulate'. However, the usage is sometimes mechanical or slightly unnatural, such as 'To commence with the view'. Additionally, the referencing is occasionally unclear; for example, in the second paragraph, the transition 'as a result, that workers will not able to balance' is grammatically awkward and disrupts the flow. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring they are used in the correct context would significantly enhance the logical progression of your arguments.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and range required for higher bands. There are several instances of awkward collocations and word choice errors, such as 'sophisticated generation' (likely meaning 'modern era'), 'corporate people', and 'an employment is an essential'. You also rely on basic descriptors like 'good money' and 'very important'. To improve, focus on learning more academic collocations and precise terminology related to the workplace, such as 'work-life balance', 'professional obligations', or 'sedentary lifestyle', rather than relying on general, informal phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

There is a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but the accuracy is inconsistent. Frequent errors in subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'workforce do overtime', 'human bodies feel... which make them more happy') and article usage (e.g., 'an employment', 'the workplace') are noticeable. Additionally, there are issues with sentence construction, such as 'if any corporate people spend more time... as a result, that workers will not able to balance'. These errors occasionally impede the flow of reading. Focusing on basic grammatical accuracy and proofreading for verb forms and pluralization will help improve your score.

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

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