Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-09-25

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 today's world, people often seeing working morethan one job, although this change offers undeniable benefits in terms of wealth and life style. However, I believe there is negative development in terms of lack of sleep and health issue.

World have seen rise in cost of living in last decade, specially in metro cities where, it's almost impossible to afford home by doing 9 to 5 jobs. This change has left perople out of choice to work for morethan one job or work overtime during weekend to fulfill their basic requirements. Moreover, many individuals work partime during leisure time even with high paying corporate job to payout their loans on car or home before time. For example, last week I booked uber to get to the home after party and the driver came in Volvo SUV, therefore, I couldn't resist my self to ask him what he do for living, and he told me that he works full time with big IT company with above average salary but doing partime uber to get out of debt quickly.

Although, such practise brings some disadvantages such as, working part time on second job takes quality time with family as an exchange. Moreover, working for long hours can slowly develop certain health issues, as human body requires 7-8 hours of sleep everydays to heal itself and make person ready for new challenges. Whereas, person with lack sleep couln't properly concentrate on their primary job and doesn't feel energetic even in the morning.

In Conclusion, although working for long hours makes people wealthier more quickly and it's very important as well but I strongly believe that balanced life is what people should choose to live. For that, instead of working for long hours everyday, try to work overtime alternative days and that way health and wealth develops together.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages (wealth, lifestyle) and disadvantages (lack of sleep, health issues) of working long hours, taking a clear position in favour of a balanced life. The ideas are generally relevant, but the development is somewhat inconsistent. For instance, the example of the Uber driver is quite specific and helps illustrate the point, but the reasoning regarding health could be extended further. The introduction contains a slight contradiction, stating the essay will discuss advantages in the first sentence and then immediately shifting to disadvantages in the second. However, all parts of the task are addressed, earning a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay is arranged into four paragraphs with a clear overall progression from introduction to body paragraphs and conclusion. However, cohesive devices and referencing are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, the use of transitions such as 'Although, such practise brings...' and 'In Conclusion, although working...' creates awkward grammatical phrasing and redundant contrast. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate the introduction, body points, and conclusion, but internal paragraph cohesion could be smoother. Referencing is mostly clear, though occasional mechanical transitions pull the score to a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common phrases like 'cost of living', 'above average salary', and 'get out of debt quickly'. However, there are numerous word choice errors, spelling mistakes, and collocation issues throughout the text. Examples include 'people often seeing working morethan one job' (instead of 'seen working more than'), 'life style' (lifestyle), 'specially' (especially), 'perople out of choice' (left people with no choice), 'partime' (part-time), and 'practise' (practice/practices). These errors do not impede overall communication, placing the vocabulary performance firmly at a Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional structures. However, grammatical accuracy is noticeably weak, featuring frequent errors in verb forms, articles, and prepositions. Examples include 'World have seen rise' (The world has seen a rise), 'everydays' (every day), 'Whereas, person with lack sleep couln't properly concentrate' (Moreover, a person with a lack of sleep cannot properly concentrate), and 'try to work overtime alternative days'. Punctuation is also erratic in places. Because errors are frequent and occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, this warrants a Band 5.0.

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