Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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 people doiing long shift and giving less time for leisure activites.Although doing more hours offers several advantages,it also has certain disadvantages. This eassay will examine both.

On of the main advantages of working long shift is that they earn more money. This is because of expensiveness.In the current market daily need of human are expensive and for full fill their need they want s more money. For instance if person working long hours shift they earn more money and also some of the comapany giving them overtime money. Which is almost double of their regular pay. Using this they can affored some expensive items also save some money for future.

On the other hand, one significant disadvantage of stay long at job is that they can put their self in daanger as mental or physical health. This can be particularly problematic because steady for long time they might be tired and after long time they might be facing some physical problem like back pain and foot problem. Also they are mentaliy tired because of work load and stress.At the end they regrate that if they did not work this much long they can improve their life style playing some sports or spending time with family.

In conclusion, working long hours offers several benefits, inclusing making more money,but it also has drawbacks such as physical and metal illnees. Overall working long shift has both positive and negative aspects.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response4.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You address the topic by presenting one advantage—earning more money—and one disadvantage—risks to physical and mental health. The examples of overtime pay, saving for the future, back pain, and stress are relevant. However, the task asks you to decide whether the situation has more advantages or disadvantages, and your conclusion only says it has “both positive and negative aspects”; it does not give a clear overall judgement. The ideas are also under-developed: for example, the health paragraph mentions family time and sports but does not explain how these compare with the financial benefits. The response is 10 words below the required minimum, so it also needs a little more relevant development.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

Your response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, a paragraph about advantages, a paragraph about disadvantages, and a conclusion. The contrast marker “On the other hand” helps signal the shift between the two main points, while “For instance” introduces an example. This organisation makes the main line of discussion easy to follow. To strengthen progression further, make the relationship between sentences more precise: “Which is almost double of their regular pay” is an incomplete follow-on, and “At the end” does not clearly connect the health effects to the point about lifestyle. The conclusion should also directly resolve the comparison raised in the question rather than simply repeat that both sides exist.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “overtime,” “regular pay,” “work load,” “stress,” and “back pain,” which helps communicate the main ideas. However, the range is limited and several spelling and word-choice errors make parts of the response difficult to read, such as “expensiveness,” “affored,” “daanger,” and “metal illnees.” Some phrases are also unnatural or imprecise, including “daily need of human” and “put their self in danger as mental or physical health.” Aim to learn accurate collocations for discussing employment and wellbeing, and check spelling carefully. More precise vocabulary would help you explain the financial benefit and health costs without relying on repeated general words such as “long” and “more money.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt a mixture of simple and complex sentences, including a concession in “Although doing more hours offers several advantages” and a reason introduced by “because.” However, errors occur frequently and sometimes make the intended meaning harder to follow. For example, “one of the main advantages … is that they earn” has unclear agreement, while “if person working long hours shift they earn” is missing necessary sentence elements and has an incorrect verb form. The fragment “Which is almost double of their regular pay” should be joined to the preceding sentence. Work on complete clauses, subject–verb agreement, articles, and consistent sentence punctuation. Building accurate basic sentences first will make your longer structures clearer.

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

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