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)

people have different views about whether enchance bonding with co-workers is benefical or keep life private from teammates is necessary. While oversharing can have some negative aspects, i believe it brings growth to individual and company.

On the one hand, creating good relationships with colleagues can bring growth to individual professional life. A person who is working in any business, has many opportunities to works with more experienced and senior in company and during this period, individual can learn more skills which can be beneficial in future either applying for other job position in same or different company. Socialising also makes work envoirment comfortable. For example, if a worker has good relation with their fellow team members apart from work, they can be good friends in future. If those friends will work on any project it can cause of less conflict and make communciation easy for worker.

On the other hand, it can cause disturbance to personal life which can result of stress because if the individual will spend his/her spare time with co-worker in evening and weekends and share life outside work then it can result of family and office conflict. Even, a person can start feeling tied to work all the time and can not take steps with free mind.

In my opinion, developing a good bond with co-woker can be key to success if individual should set some boundries. Otherwise, it can be reason of some home or office conflict over sharing life outside work.

In conclusion, although socialising can be beneficial in terms of personal growth but

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 colleagues and providing a clear personal opinion. The position is maintained throughout the essay. Ideas are extended and supported, such as explaining how professional relationships can reduce project conflicts and improve future job prospects. However, there is a tendency to over-generalise in parts, and the essay ends abruptly mid-sentence in the conclusion, which prevents full development of the final thought. Despite this minor truncation, the main body paragraphs adequately explore the prompt. This performance aligns well with the Band 6.0 descriptors, where all parts are addressed and relevant ideas are presented, though some areas require more thorough exploration and completion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear attempt at paragraphing, separating the introduction, two body paragraphs, the writer's opinion, and a truncated conclusion. However, the logical progression is sometimes hindered by mechanical or faulty cohesion. For instance, transitional phrases like 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand' are used, but referencing is occasionally unclear, such as ambiguous pronoun usage ('it can cause of less conflict'). Furthermore, the conclusion is incomplete, breaking off abruptly, which disrupts the flow of the text. Overall, the structural framework is visible, but the execution of cohesive devices and logical transitions places this response solidly in the Band 5.5 to 6.0 range, earning a 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'professional life', 'communication', and 'boundries'. However, there are numerous lexical and spelling errors throughout the text, including 'enchance' instead of 'enhance', 'benefical' instead of 'beneficial', 'envoirment' instead of 'environment', and 'co-woker'. Word choice and collocations are occasionally awkward, such as 'cause of less conflict' instead of 'fewer conflicts'. While these errors are noticeable and detract from the overall polish of the writing, they do not severely impede communication. This reflects the Band 6 descriptors, which highlight an adequate vocabulary range with some inaccuracy and spelling errors that do not block the reader's understanding.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over sentence structures. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in articles, prepositions, subject-verb agreement, and word forms. Examples include 'people have different views about whether enchance bonding', 'individual can learn more skills', and 'result of stress'. There are also run-on sentences and punctuation issues, such as missing capitalisation at the beginning of sentences ('people have...', 'i believe...'). These errors occur regularly and require some effort from the reader to parse, though they rarely obscure the core meaning completely. This fits the Band 5.0 to 5.5 profile, leaning toward Band 5.0 due to the consistent grammatical lapses in complex structures.

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

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