Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-08-30

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)

In an increasingly interconnected world, long working hours is the commonly witnessed phenomenon. Some people argue that doing long shifts leave people with very little time to do leisure activities.

In my opinion, I believe that working for long hours have more cons than pros.

To commence with, if people will work for more hours in a day, it will lead them to become financially stable. To substantiate, doing work for more hours enable people to earn more money due to which they are able to manage with their expenses as well as to save some money. To cite an example, CEO of New York fries restaurant told in his interview that in beginning he worked for 18 hours in day so that he can save some money to establish his own restaurant. Hence, doing more work provides opportunity to get stability.

In contrast, doing long shifts not only impact sleep cycle but also reduces interaction with loved ones. In other words, people doing job for long hours are not able to get proper sleep because of which they may face certain health issues such as depression, back pain. In addition, they may feel lonely because they do not have enough time to share their feelings with their loved ones. To quote an instance, report from University of Toronto shows in its reports that 95 percent of workers doing long shifts suffer from depression. Therefore, doing more work will have negative impact on health as well as mental stability.

To recapitulate, doing more work allow to get financial stability, but it has more demerits. There life cycle will be drastically influenced as they will not have enough time to prepare food meals as well as to relax their body.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task and maintains a clear position throughout. The arguments regarding financial stability versus health and social consequences are relevant and logically extended. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial; for instance, the example of the CEO is anecdotal and lacks depth, and the claim that 95 percent of workers suffer from depression is a sweeping generalisation that lacks nuance. To reach a higher band, you should aim to provide more sophisticated analysis and avoid making unsubstantiated statistical claims. Overall, the position is consistent and the main ideas are clearly presented.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organised with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the advantages and disadvantages. Cohesive devices such as 'To commence with', 'To substantiate', 'In contrast', and 'To recapitulate' are used to guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical or repetitive. Additionally, there are minor issues with referencing and flow, such as the phrase 'due to which they are able to manage with their expenses', which is slightly clunky. The progression of ideas is generally clear, but the connection between sentences could be smoother to achieve a more natural flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing for clear communication of ideas. You use some topic-specific terms like 'financially stable', 'sleep cycle', and 'mental stability'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are instances of awkward word choice or collocation, such as 'doing work for more hours' (working longer hours) and 'prepare food meals' (prepare meals). There is also a lack of less common lexical items that would demonstrate a higher level of precision. To improve, focus on using more natural collocations and a wider variety of academic vocabulary to express your points more precisely.

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 that persist throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('long working hours is', 'working for long hours have'), article misuse ('in beginning', 'in day'), and awkward phrasing ('doing job for long hours'). While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. To improve, focus on subject-verb agreement, correct article usage, and ensuring that complex sentence structures are constructed accurately without missing prepositions or auxiliary verbs.

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

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