Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-10-04

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)

People are working longer hours than usual and spending less hours for leisure activities. I personally believe that this situation has major disadvantages such as obesity, and heat related disease on the physical health while excessive level of stress and depression is causing a significant problems to mental health of individuals.

The major disadvantage of working long hours is on physical health. People are spending excessive amount of time at work and reduced time for activities which can boost their morale. This is because not participating in physical activities such as gym or running, which has caused increased risk of a heart attack and obesity. Companies should dedicate few hours per week for activities such as running, cycling or yoga. These activities can help increasing qualities such as concentration, and problem solving abilities in workforce. For instance, the University of Toronto completed a study on 100 individuals and divided them in two groups. The people who participated in any sort of physical activity for last two months, have shown decreased level of risk to mental problems.

On the other hand, mental health related problems such as stress, anxiety and insufficient sleep are increasing rapidly. This is because people does not have spare time to participate in activites such as reading a book, going for a walk in trail and much more. These activities help to relase workload related problems and help relaxing mind.

For instance, European countries are experimenting 28 hours per week workload culture. These would help people to dedicate rest of the days to improve physical and mental health by going to gym, a run or spending quality time with family and friends.

To conclude, people should focus on mental and physical health by spending more time doing their favourite activities outside of working hours.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by taking a clear position on the disadvantages of working long hours, discussing physical health issues like obesity and heart attacks, and mental health challenges such as stress. Relevant ideas are presented, demonstrating a solid understanding of the prompt. However, some parts are more fully developed than others. For instance, while the physical health aspect is supported by a study example from the University of Toronto, the mental health discussion touches upon European work cultures but remains somewhat general and lacks tighter integration with the main argument. To reach the next level, all ideas require equally thorough extension and support throughout the body paragraphs, avoiding any slight under-development in secondary points.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear progression of ideas from the introduction through separate paragraphs on physical and mental health to a definitive conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct main points. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty, such as the transition into the second body paragraph beginning with 'On the other hand,' which is slightly misapplied since mental health is another disadvantage rather than an opposing view. Additionally, referencing is occasionally imprecise, and cohesive devices are somewhat basic. To achieve a higher band, the writer needs to employ a wider and more flexible range of cohesive devices and ensure that logical relationships between paragraphs and ideas are managed with greater precision and subtlety.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully communicating the main points regarding work hours and health. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'morale', 'concentration', and 'insufficient sleep', demonstrating an acceptable range. However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and phrasing, such as 'spending less hours' instead of 'fewer hours', 'heat related disease' instead of 'heart-related diseases', and 'going for a walk in trail' instead of 'on a trail'. There are also minor awkward collocations like 'relase workload related problems'. These errors do not impede communication, placing the response firmly at this level. To improve, the writer should focus on precision in word choice and natural collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating structures such as relative clauses and conditional-like statements. There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, but they rarely impede communication. Examples of grammatical slips include subject-verb agreement issues like 'people does not have', article omissions such as 'for last two months' and 'to gym', and prepositional inaccuracies like 'causing a significant problems'. Punctuation is generally acceptable, though minor slips occur. To move to a higher band, the writer must produce a greater frequency of error-free sentences while maintaining a wide variety of complex grammatical structures with tighter control over articles and agreement.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.