Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 15 · 2026-08-17

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Nowadays many people complain that they have difficulties getting enough sleep. What problems can lack of sleep cause? What can be done about lack of sleep?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 5.0)

In many cities , people are spending less time with their families because they are working longer hours and have increasingly busy lifestyles. what problems can this cause, and what solutions can you suggest

In many urban cities, individuals are spending less time with their families because they have to work longer hours and deal with busy lifestyles. This can cause several problems, particularly for family relationships and people's well-being. However, there are some effective solutions that can help to improve this situation.

One major problem is that family relationships may become weaker.

When parents spend most of the time with work ,they have fewer opportunities to talk to their children or participate in their family activities. As a result children may feel ignored and create emotional distance from their parents. Another problem is that working for long hours can create stress and tiredness , feel laziness all the time. People may return home with less energy to communicate with their family. which can lead an arguments and vanish all the happiness in between family.

There are several ways to address these problems. firstly, employers could provide more flexible working arrangements such flexible working hours or work from home when it possible. This could allow employees to spend more time with their families or communicate with them. Secondly , families make efforts to spend more time with their loved once. for example they could have dinner together , go for a walk and picnic on weekends. Although spending time with their family can build a strong emotional bond between family. Try to spend more time with your family for make it strong.

In conclusion, busy work life can lead to weak family relationships or increased stress. Employers should provide flexible working hours, while families should make regular time for each other. These things help people to achieve a better balance between family and work

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response3.0
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0

The student has completely failed to address the task prompt. The prompt asks about the problems and solutions regarding 'lack of sleep'. However, the student has written an entire essay about 'spending less time with family due to work'. This is a significant off-topic error. While the essay structure (introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion) is present and the ideas are developed in relation to the topic the student chose, the failure to address the actual prompt means the response cannot be scored highly for Task Achievement. It is essentially a memorised or misread response to a different question.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with clear paragraphing. There is a progression of ideas within the paragraphs, and the student uses basic cohesive devices such as 'One major problem', 'Another problem', 'firstly', 'secondly', and 'In conclusion'. However, the referencing is sometimes weak, and the flow is occasionally interrupted by grammatical errors. Despite the off-topic content, the structural organization is coherent and easy to follow, which prevents a lower score in this criterion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks sophistication. The student uses common phrases like 'busy lifestyles', 'emotional distance', and 'flexible working arrangements'. There are some errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'feel laziness all the time' (should be 'feeling lazy') and 'vanish all the happiness in between family' (awkward phrasing). The range is sufficient to communicate the intended meaning, but it does not demonstrate the flexibility or precision required for higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are frequent grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues ('families make efforts', 'these things help'), incorrect preposition usage ('in between family'), and awkward sentence fragments ('which can lead an arguments'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma placement. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of errors in basic grammar structures limits the score.

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

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