Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-20
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 6.5)
In the contemporary era, a trend of socialization with work colleagues has been increasing gradually. Many people believe it is a great idea while others believe, people should maintain their personal and professional life separately. Although office friends can help us to relieve our stress, I believe importance of spending quality time with loved ones is more important.
On the one hand, spending evenings and weekends with work colleagues offer several advantages. Improving problem solving skill is one of the major ones. Spending more time with work friends allow people to share their difficulties and a good friend helps to find mistakes and suggest a possible solution. Apart from this, friendship helps employees to reduce their communication gap and improve management in any task and this may allow them to work efficiently and successfully. For instance, a group of friends may make a successful project because they already know each others' weakness and strengths and according to that they would like to share the responsibility. However, a work may use personal information against each other to achieve a higher position.
On the other hand, there are compelling reasons people do not tend to mix their social life with working life. First and foremost is freedom. People tend to live their life without any restriction. If they mix their working life with social one then there are high chances of getting several judgements on personal life. This may put restriction on some activities. Furthermore, privacy is another reason. If people know everything about other employees then there are high chances of sharing someone's personal information with other colleagues which may create trust issues.
To conclude, although work friends allow to reduce work stress by improving our mistakes, I believe the importance of privacy and freedom should not look overlook either.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 7.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 7.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 6.0 |
| Overall | 6.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0
The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a clear personal opinion in the introduction and conclusion. The ideas are relevant, such as the benefits of team cohesion versus the need for privacy. However, some points are slightly under-developed; for instance, the argument regarding 'freedom' and 'judgements' could be supported with more specific examples to reach a higher band. The position is consistent throughout, and the essay structure follows the requirements of the prompt well. To improve, ensure that each supporting point is fully explained with a concrete example or a deeper analysis of the implications.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0
The essay is logically organized with clear paragraphing. Each paragraph has a central topic, and the progression of ideas is generally smooth. Cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'Apart from this', and 'Furthermore' are used effectively to link ideas. However, there are some minor issues with referencing and flow, such as the slightly abrupt transition in the second paragraph regarding the potential for negative behavior. The use of cohesive devices is generally accurate, though at times it feels a bit mechanical. Overall, the information is presented in a coherent manner that is easy to follow.
Lexical Resource — Band 6.0
The vocabulary is sufficient to convey the intended meaning clearly. There is an attempt to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'contemporary era', 'professional life', and 'communication gap'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'improve management in any task' or 'work friends allow to reduce work stress' (missing an object). The range is adequate for the task, but it lacks the sophistication and precision required for higher bands. Expanding the range of synonyms and focusing on more natural collocations would enhance the quality of the writing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0
The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('a work may use', 'friendship helps employees to reduce their communication gap and improve management') and missing articles or prepositions. Punctuation is generally correct, but there are some awkward phrasings that slightly impede the flow. The majority of sentences are understandable, but the frequency of minor errors prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. Focusing on proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy would be beneficial.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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