Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-01

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 5.5)

Different people have different opinion that socialize with work colleagues during evening and weekends are more important than spend time with their families. In my opinion, spending evening time with families is most important for your children well being.

On the one hand, if people spend more time with families so they make positive bonding and strong relationship. Now a days, everyone is busy in hectic schedule of duties and didn’t spend their proper time with families. As a result, it will bring many diseases and negative impact on families. For example, my uncle son Diagnosed with autism and his wife with anxiety disorder recently. Due to his father hectic routine and lack of concentration and spending more time outside, leads negative effect on his family.

On the other hand, socialize with work colleague make positive environment in work place and increase the chances of future growth. But boundaries are more important in between social life and personal life.For example, my nephew spend more time with colleagues. He got promotion with very short period of time.These are advantages and disadvantages of socialization with work colleague in evening time.

In conclusion, although socialize with work colleague is beneficial but in my opinion, I strongly admit that people should make some boundaries between social life and personal life. Which one leads to positive effect in families and in personal health also.In my views, Spending more time in work place and in stress environment will directly effect the people physical and mental health.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a clear personal opinion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and occasionally repetitive. For instance, the argument regarding family health is supported by a personal example, but the connection between the uncle's situation and the prompt is not fully articulated. The discussion on the benefits of socializing with colleagues is brief and lacks depth. To improve, you should aim to expand your supporting points with more detailed explanations or broader societal implications rather than relying solely on personal anecdotes. The position is consistent throughout, but the overall development of the arguments needs more sophistication to reach a higher band.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion' to signal shifts in the argument. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and the use of referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the sentence 'Which one leads to positive effect in families'. The progression of ideas is generally logical, but the transitions between the personal examples and the main points could be smoother. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that pronouns clearly refer back to their antecedents would enhance the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. You rely on common phrases like 'hectic schedule' and 'positive environment'. There are some inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'socialize with work colleague' (should be plural 'colleagues') and 'in very short period of time' (should be 'within'). While the meaning is generally clear, the lack of more sophisticated or idiomatic language limits the score. To improve, focus on learning collocations and using more precise academic vocabulary to express your ideas, rather than relying on repetitive or slightly unnatural phrasing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the reader's flow. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('socialize... are', 'my uncle son Diagnosed'), missing articles, and incorrect preposition usage. For example, 'in between social life' is redundant, and 'effect the people physical and mental health' should be 'affect people's physical and mental health'. While the errors do not prevent the message from being understood, they are frequent enough to be noticeable. You should focus on proofreading for basic errors like pluralization, verb tense consistency, and the correct use of possessives.

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

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