Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-16

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)

Whether interact with work collegues after working hours is good idea or not has been matter of debate. Some people think that spending time with collegues is good idea to unwind themselves. While others believe that it's necessary to keep working life completely separate from social life. According to me working life should be comletely separate from social life due to several factors.

On the one hand, one major reason why socialize with work collegues is good idea is that it allows them to know each other more deeply and effectively. This is because people can share their interests and finances with each other. By spending time together, people can become more comfortable. For example, individuals who meet every weekends can have a better understanding of each others strengnths and weaknesses. This can not only enhance their love and support but also their knowledge.

On the other hand, some individulas believe that working and social life should be sperate. The reason for this is that people should give more time to their families. When they give more time to collegues sometimes they can take them easil on working place and avoid to complete tasks. A clear example of this can be seen when a person become comfortable with others, then it's hard to give them instructions regarding work. Consequently, citizens should have boundaries between working life and social life.

In conclusion, Although socialize with fellow workers during evenings and weekends can build their interests and better understanding, I firmly believe that working life life should be completly separate because sometimes it leads to conflicts at working life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views on socialising with work colleagues and providing a clear personal position. The introduction outlines the two perspectives and clearly states the author's stance that working and social lives should be kept separate. Each view is addressed in separate body paragraphs. However, the development of ideas tends to be repetitive and somewhat limited in depth. For instance, the discussion on why socialising is beneficial mentions 'interests and finances' and 'strengths and weaknesses', but these points are not fully explored or exemplified with convincing real-world scenarios. Similarly, the counter-argument regarding familiarity breeding workplace complacency is stated rather than thoroughly elaborated. Consequently, the task response aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure, featuring an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Logical connectors such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', and 'In conclusion' are used to guide the reader through the text. However, referencing and cohesive ties are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, the phrase 'When they give more time to collegues sometimes they can take them easil on working place' lacks smooth transitional flow and precise pronoun referencing. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the contrasting viewpoints, but the overall progression within the paragraphs occasionally feels abrupt.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'unwind', 'complementary', and 'boundaries'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'collegues', 'comletely', 'sperate', and 'strengnths'. Additionally, some collocations are awkward or inaccurate, such as 'take them easil on working place' and 'conflicts at working life'. While these lexical inaccuracies and spelling errors are noticeable and require the reader to occasionally pause, they do not completely impede communication. This places the lexical performance firmly in the Band 5.0 to 5.5 range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, using relative clauses and conditional-like constructs such as 'When they give more time to collegues sometimes they can take them easil...' and 'A clear example of this can be seen when a person become comfortable...'. However, grammatical control is inconsistent, with frequent errors in verb forms, missing articles, and subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'Whether interact with work collegues...', 'person become comfortable', 'life life should be completly'). Punctuation is also occasionally mishandled. Despite these errors, the structures used are varied enough to avoid overly simplistic writing, and meaning remains generally decipherable.

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