Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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 5.5)

Nowadays, the expenses are increasing regularly. It is considerably negative effect on the economy of the world. It is often argued that individuals spent long hours on work while giving less time to leisure activities.The disadvantages outweigh the advantages for this statement.

Every human being has a hactic schedule over the week. In order to survive, they have to spend money on their expenses such as food and clothing. In addition to this, they are paying higher taxes to the government from their own budget. This is considerably a reason why people work more hours. Many international students start working long-duration shifts to pay their college fees before deadline. For this, they forget to take care of their body.For instance, International students manage their school,work and family at the same time. It is even difficult to work long hours regularly without taking rest a day. Moreover, parents work hard for their children to give them better life, fulfill their needs and provide them excellent schooling. Mainly, people work long hours for themselves, family members.

Working long hours lead to some of the hazardous issues such as feeling restless, welcoming diseases in body and stress. A very little time is not good enough for humans to participate in leisure activities after their work. They get mentally depressed. As they cannot spend time with their closed ones because of more work. Their relationship not work well then.Therefore, they do not get time to explore the world which will decrease their productivity. For example, a lot of people in Nepal are facing from brainstorm because of spending long hours on work.

In conclusion, working long hour is not beneficial for the health. It also decrease the life cycle of a human being. It has negative impacts on the lifestyle of human beings as well. They do not have sufficient time to take care of themselves after work. They should work particular hours in a week so that they can manage work and their life with full productivity

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you argue that the disadvantages of long working hours outweigh the advantages, and you address effects on health, relationships and productivity. The examples about international students balancing study, work and family, and parents working to support their children, are relevant to the topic. However, some points are not fully explained: the opening discussion of rising expenses and taxes explains why people work longer, but does not clearly weigh this benefit against the costs. The claim about people in Nepal experiencing “brainstorm” is also unclear and needs a precise, credible example. To strengthen the response, develop the comparison between financial benefits and the personal harms, explaining why the latter are more significant.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two body paragraphs and a conclusion, and the main line of argument can be followed. You use linking expressions such as “In addition to this,” “Moreover” and “Therefore” to connect ideas. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes uneven: the first body paragraph moves from expenses and taxes to students and then parents without clearly showing how each example supports the comparison in your position. Some links are mechanical or unclear, as in “As they cannot spend time with their closed ones…” and “Their relationship not work well then.” Improve cohesion by grouping related causes and consequences, using clear references, and making each paragraph’s central point explicit.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some topic-relevant vocabulary, including “leisure activities,” “long-duration shifts,” “hazardous issues” and “productivity,” and the reader can generally understand your intended meaning. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, which sometimes makes ideas difficult to interpret. For example, “hactic schedule” appears to mean “hectic schedule,” “welcoming diseases” is not a natural way to describe health risks, and “brainstorm” does not clearly express the condition you intend. There is also repetition of “work long hours” and “people.” Build a more precise range for discussing consequences, such as work-related stress, physical health problems and strained relationships, and check spelling and collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including a reason clause in “In order to survive, they have to spend money…” and a conditional-style explanation beginning “As they cannot spend time…”. However, control is inconsistent, and errors in sentence structure, agreement and punctuation sometimes make the meaning harder to follow. Examples include “It is considerably negative effect,” “Working long hours lead,” and “It also decrease the life cycle”; these need a verb or article adjustment, subject–verb agreement, and a more complete expression. The fragment “As they cannot spend time with their closed ones…” should be joined to the preceding sentence or rewritten as a full sentence. Practise checking agreement and sentence boundaries, while continuing to use varied structures.

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