Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-06

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people think that it’s a good idea to socialise with work colleagues during evenings and weekends. Other people think it’s important to keep working life completely separate from social life.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

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

Student answer (Band 6.0)

It is argued by certain individuals that it is better for co-workers to hang out on free days while other believe that there should be a complete separation of work life and social life. From my perspective, although frequent interaction with colleagues can improve teamwork, it can leads to office politics so, it is better to have a balanced approach.

Those who argue in favour of socialising with work mates claimed that it helps to make communication and collaboration better. Friendship build trust and make communication smoother and team projects more effective. For instance, when you are friend with your colleague, you are not afraid of asking for help or sharing ideas. So projects work smoothly. Moreover, friends from work place can provide emotional support. Work can sometimes be frustrating due to unexpected deadlines or managers, you can share your stress with your fellow and ask for some suggestions.

In contrast, over involvement with peer can be resulted in office politics. Personal conversation can spill into the office and create misuderstandings or cliques which is toxic for a competitive work environment. Hence, reduces productivity. Furthermore, having a work besties can blurred professional boundaries. Excessive friendliness can cause favouritism and gossips which result in decreasing work performance. In my opinion, one should neither be too frank with colleagues nor too reserved so that a productive work place can work smoothly.

In conclusion, while being friend with work mates can improve communication better and provide emotional support during stress, it can leads towards favouritism and cliques easily. A balance approach of setting boundaries not only helps you to stay productive but also a nice fellow.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both perspectives and providing a clear personal opinion. The ideas are relevant, such as the benefits of trust and the risks of office politics. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat superficial. For instance, the point about 'emotional support' is mentioned but could be better illustrated with a more specific scenario. The position is consistent throughout, and the conclusion effectively summarises the main points. To reach a higher band, ensure that each supporting point is fully extended with more depth and nuance rather than relying on brief, repetitive explanations.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organised into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. There is a clear progression of ideas from the introduction to the conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'Moreover', 'In contrast', and 'Furthermore' are used to link sentences and paragraphs effectively. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing, such as the phrase 'a nice fellow' at the end, which lacks a clear antecedent. Overall, the paragraphing is appropriate, and the flow of information is easy to follow, meeting the requirements for a solid band 7.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task. You use some topic-specific terms like 'office politics', 'professional boundaries', and 'favouritism'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choices or minor errors, such as 'work besties' (too informal), 'can be resulted in' (incorrect passive construction), and 'can blurred' (incorrect verb form). While these errors do not impede communication, they highlight a need for more precise control over collocations and register. Expanding your range to include more sophisticated synonyms for common words would help elevate your score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While you attempt complex sentences, there are frequent grammatical errors that detract from the overall quality. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues like 'it can leads' and 'it can leads towards', as well as incorrect verb forms like 'can blurred'. Punctuation is generally functional, but there are minor slips throughout. To improve, focus on proofreading for basic subject-verb agreement and ensuring that modal verbs are followed by the correct base form of the verb. Increasing the variety of error-free complex structures will also help.

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