Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 14 · 2026-11-04

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 5.5)

Nowadays, people spend there less time on leisure activities and they spend more hours on work. there are some benefits of this as well as there are alot of drawbacks of work for long hours and i will discuss this in upcoming paragraphs.

It cannot denying that there are few benefits of working for long hours. the major advantage of this is ' can earn go money'. To explain this, when someone work for more or long hours then that person can get over time and more pay then others and they can complete their family daily need. As a result, they can make their life happy with there pay.

On the other side, there are alot of disadvantages of spending more time on work then leisure activities. Firstly, it will increase stress in their life. because if someone spend whole day on work place then that person need to stay formal all the time and they need to focus on their work files or on computer, so they didnot get time to do relax activities for them self such as play games or maditation for relax themself. Secondly, they cannot make good relation with their family. when someone do long shifts, its hard for that person to give time to their family and children because they donot have enough time to spend with them self so how they will spend with thwir family.

In conclusion, majority of indiviual spend more time on work then leisure activities. i think this situation has both positive and negative effects but it has more disadvantages of this.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both sides of the question and make your view clear in the conclusion: although there are benefits, the disadvantages are greater. The point about earning overtime pay and meeting family needs is relevant, as are the effects on stress and family relationships. However, the advantages are explained briefly, and the disadvantages would be more convincing with a specific example or fuller explanation of their consequences. For instance, you could show how limited family time affects relationships or explain how leisure helps people recover from work. Your position is clear overall, but developing and supporting the main ideas more evenly would make the response more complete.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on benefits, a paragraph on disadvantages, and a conclusion. The contrast between “On the other side” and “In conclusion” helps readers follow the argument, and the disadvantages paragraph progresses from stress to family relationships. This meets the lower-band expectations and shows some stronger organisation. However, links are sometimes mechanical, with repeated “Firstly,” “Secondly,” and “because,” and some references are unclear, such as “they” and “that person” in the family discussion. Use a wider range of natural transitions and make each pronoun’s reference unmistakable to create smoother progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “leisure activities,” “overtime,” “stress,” and “family relationships.” However, the range is limited and several noticeable word-choice, collocation, and spelling problems make parts less natural or harder to understand. For example, “can earn go money” does not clearly express the intended benefit, while “do relax activities” and “stay formal” are awkward in context. There are also repeated forms such as “alot” and misspellings such as “maditation” and “indiviual.” Build a more precise set of phrases for pay, relaxation, and family life, and check spelling and collocations during editing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including conditional structures such as “when someone work for more or long hours then that person can get over time” and a reason clause beginning “because if someone spend whole day…”. These attempts show an effort to connect ideas, but control is inconsistent, and errors sometimes make the reader pause. Examples include subject–verb agreement (“someone work,” “someone spend”), missing or incorrect articles (“on work place”), and sentence-boundary and capitalization problems (“because” begins a sentence; “i” is not capitalized). Practise accurate present-tense agreement and article use, then proofread punctuation and sentence openings. More reliable control of these patterns would make your meaning clearer.

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

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