Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-08-25

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 world, work life balance became a debatable topic specifically among younger generation. Few people believes hangouts after work with office mates or on weekends is healthy and promotes good relations with them, while others argue that it's better to keep both separate. This essay will discuss both the arguments following my opinion at the end.

To begin with, socializing with your colleagues post working hours creates a positive bonding and build a friendly relationship with your office companions. Also, you are able to know more about each other's personal life along with professional journey. For Instance, office HR often organizes a team bonding activity in firm to create positive work culture. Additionally, office monthly parties-birthdays, promotions are the activities; creates friendly work space.

On the other hand, people strongly respects each other private space and choose to keep their social life far away from the place they work. This is because of toxic atmosphere; created by few employees. To exemplify, a toxic boss never wants his/her employees to hangout together, as he/she believes it often leads to reduction in productivity if workers becomes too friendly with each other. That's why people want's to keep their social life private from office as they don't want to be a part of such toxic culture which can lead to termination.

Lastly, in my opinion I strongly opine socializing with office buddies as you spend most of your time with them-at least 8 hours/day and if you become good friends with your colleagues; it's always beneficial for both your mental health and professional productivity.

To recapitulate, while both arguments have strong points and both are correct in their own way. However, positives of socializing with colleagues overcomes the drawbacks of keeping it separate. As long as it's done in a healthy manner and respecting boundaries.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

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 team bonding versus the desire for privacy to avoid toxic environments. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the argument regarding 'toxic atmosphere' is a bit narrow and could be expanded with more nuanced reasoning. The position is clear throughout, but the essay would benefit from more depth in the supporting examples to reach a higher band. Overall, it is a solid attempt that fulfills the requirements of the task.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The use of cohesive devices such as 'To begin with,' 'On the other hand,' and 'To recapitulate' helps guide the reader through the argument. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally imprecise, such as in the sentence '...are the activities; creates friendly work space,' where the connection between the clauses is grammatically weak. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different viewpoints, which contributes to the overall coherence of the piece.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express their ideas clearly. There are attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'professional journey,' 'toxic atmosphere,' and 'work-life balance.' However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'socializing with office buddies' (which is slightly informal) and 'positives of socializing... overcomes the drawbacks' (should be 'outweighs'). While the range is sufficient to convey meaning, it lacks the precision and flexibility required for a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'Few people believes,' 'people want's to keep') and punctuation (e.g., the misuse of semicolons and unnecessary commas). While these errors are frequent, they do not impede communication, and the reader can easily follow the intended meaning. To improve, the student should focus on proofreading for basic agreement errors and refining the use of complex sentence structures to ensure they are error-free.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.