Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-14

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, people want to become successful in their lives. To achieve their goals, they work hard for long hours and hardly get spare time for their personal interests. While this trend has benefits such as more financial stability and stable jobs, it has several drawbacks ranging from reduced social interaction to mental stress.

To begin with, there are several advantages of working long hours. Primarily, working for long hours makes a person financially stable. To illustrate this, overtime is paid to an employee who works more than the regular hours. It means the person will have a higher bank balance as compared to other employees. Another noticeable benefit is getting a stable job. Many corporate sectors evaluate the employee performance on the basis of time spent in the office. Thus, when workers work for long hours in the office, they get recognised by their manager and get promoted.

However, its disadvantages cannot be ignored. Firstly, a person becomes less socially attached while spending more time in the office. Since a person spends most of his time in the office, he gets less exposure to interact with society. For example, in Canada, a lot of individuals work for long hours and get almost no time to go out with their friends and play with their children after work. This not only makes them less socially engaged, but they also miss important events while working late at night in the office. Mental stress is another alarming concern in the contemporary era. Late-night work involves working at night, which disrupts the sleeping pattern of a person. As a result, a person faces serious mental and physical health issues.

In conclusion, although working more than regular office hours could support a person financially and provide a stable job, I strongly believe that its drawbacks are more concerning, such as poor mental health and lack of social interaction.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of working long hours and clearly states a position in the introduction and conclusion. Ideas are extended and supported, such as financial stability through overtime pay and the negative impacts on social interaction and mental stress, exemplified by references to employees in Canada. However, the reasoning tends to be a bit repetitive at times, such as reiterating that spending time in the office reduces social exposure. Overall, the task is well covered, fitting comfortably into the Band 7 descriptor.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organised with a clear progression throughout. Each paragraph has a distinct focus, moving from an introduction to advantages, disadvantages, and a concluding summary. Cohesive devices are used adequately to guide the reader, such as 'To begin with', 'To illustrate this', and 'However'. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately. While referencing is generally clear, the pronoun usage occasionally feels slightly repetitive, but overall cohesion is managed well, aligning with a solid Band 7.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate and appropriate for the task, successfully conveying the intended meaning. The writer attempts some less common lexical items such as 'financial stability', 'contemporary era', and 'disrupts the sleeping pattern'. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'less socially attached' instead of 'socially isolated', and repetitive use of simple phrasing like 'working for long hours' and 'spend most of his time'. These limitations place the vocabulary firmly in the Band 6 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating conditional and participial structures such as 'While this trend has benefits such as...' and 'As a result, a person faces...'. There are some grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'evaluate the employee performance' instead of 'performance' and generalising with singular pronouns awkwardly ('a person... he'). However, these errors do not impede communication and the majority of sentences are clear and grammatically sound, representing a typical Band 6 performance.

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