Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-02

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)

Now a days everything is being very expensive so working limited isn't enought so thats the reason most of people work long hours and have very little time for the leisure activities so according to me this situation has more disadvantage on individuals life.

Moreover many people dosen't have option to stay home and enjoy the leasure time or to travel as they have lots of responsiblity to handle their family for example if a person having a loan for his house or eduaction can't afford to stay home as he needs to pay the bank with the intrest if he misses the monthly payment the banks gonna call a give a trouble. and most of time a person think that little time is enought to rest or to have a leisure activities but its not. Altho your making money but can't spend on your activities it dosen't make the money worth, if your not happy in your life but it can affect not only your health but also gives you more stress.

Enjoying your leisure time for long can make you very happy and a productive person and you can start loving your life so it can have a good impact on your mental health too. One of my friend used to work long hours and seven days a week while looking at him it feels like he is very stress and not enjoying the life so according to me people should work for 40 hours a week and 2 days there should be off and should travel to diffrent cities after every 6 month .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by taking a clear position that working long hours has more disadvantages, which is a key requirement at this level. Relevant ideas are presented, such as the economic necessity of working overtime to cover expenses and loans, and the subsequent negative impact on mental health and personal relationships. However, some ideas are under-developed rather than fully extended; for instance, the explanation of financial pressures regarding bank loans remains somewhat repetitive and lacks deeper analysis. To reach the next higher level, the writer needs to present fully developed, well-supported arguments throughout the entire essay without relying on sweeping generalisations.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is a coherent overall arrangement of ideas, with a clear introduction stating the writer's position and a conclusion offering personal recommendations. However, the progression of ideas is sometimes hindered by faulty or mechanical cohesion. The response relies heavily on basic additive connectors like 'Moreover' and 'and', and referencing is not always clear, particularly in lengthy, run-on sentences such as 'for example if a person having a loan...'. Paragraphing is attempted, but the middle paragraph is overly dense and combines multiple distinct points—financial stress and the futility of earning without time to spend—which disrupts the logical flow. To improve, the writer should use a wider variety of cohesive devices more accurately and break down ideas into clearly demarcated, single-focus paragraphs.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, demonstrating an attempt to discuss economic and lifestyle concepts using words like 'responsiblity', 'leisure', and 'productive'. However, there is a limited range with noticeable errors in word form, spelling, and word choice that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, such as writing 'enought' instead of 'enough', 'dosen't' instead of 'doesn't', and 'intrest' instead of 'interest'. Collocations are also weak in places, such as 'give a trouble' instead of 'cause trouble'. To achieve a higher band, the writer must expand their lexical repertoire to include less common lexical items with greater precision and eliminate basic spelling and word-choice errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer demonstrates a limited range of structures, attempting some complex sentences with clauses introduced by 'if' and 'while', but these attempts are frequently faulty. There are frequent errors in punctuation and sentence boundaries, notably a heavy reliance on run-on sentences lacking proper periods or commas, such as 'Altho your making money but can't spend on your activities...'. Errors in verb forms, subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'many people dosen't'), and articles are common and can occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. To progress, the writer needs to increase their control over complex grammatical structures and punctuate sentences accurately to ensure greater clarity.

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