Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-09-22

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)

Many individuals believe that spending time with coworkers outside the working hours can strengthen the professional relationship, while others prefers to maintain their work life and personal life completely separate. Although both views have some merits, I believe socialising with colleagues can be beneficial but there should be safe balance between them.

To begin with, when employees from a firm meets outside of their working hours they become more comfortable with each other. Although they have distinct responsibilities at work, socialising helps to develop the stronger relationship and better communication skills. For instance, colleagues having dinner after work may have better understanding with each other and cooperate more effectively. Thus, these are some of the merits of spending time outside the working hours.

On the other hand, some people prefer to keep their boundaries because they spend most of their time in office and get barely a chance to spend time with their family. Moreover, the more they talk about work outside of work, the more stress they feel. However, not everyone is open for friendships at work, some prefer privacy. For instance, many people will prefer to spend their evening after working hours with their loved ones rather than colleagues. In my opinion, socialising is beneficial when it is occasional , but people should not feel obligated to spend all their free time with coworkers.

To put this in a nutshell, spending time with the work employees can certainly enhance their relationship and improve teamwork whereas, keeping the meetings occasionally can let people to relax and spend more time with their family after work.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both views on socialising with work colleagues and providing a clear personal opinion in the introduction and body paragraphs. The ideas are generally relevant, such as improving teamwork and communication versus maintaining boundaries to avoid stress and protect family time. However, some arguments lack full extension and suffer from generalisation, keeping the task response at a Band 6.5 level. For example, the idea that 'colleagues having dinner after work may have better understanding' is stated rather than thoroughly explored with a richer example. Overall, the prompt requirements are satisfactorily met with a clear position maintained throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The response demonstrates a clear overall progression with logical paragraphing. Each paragraph has a distinct focus, moving from an introduction to arguments for socialising, arguments against, and a concluding summary. Cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'On the other hand', and 'To put this in a nutshell' are used to structure the text, although some links are slightly mechanical or awkward, such as 'whereas, keeping the meetings occasionally can let people to relax'. Referencing is mostly clear, though occasional minor slip-ups in phrasing slightly disrupt the flow. Overall, the organisational structure is easy to follow, aligning well with the Band 7 criteria for logical organisation and clear progression.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student displays an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully attempting less common items and collocations such as 'strengthen the professional relationship', 'distinct responsibilities', and 'cooperate more effectively'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices, such as 'work employees' instead of 'coworkers' or 'colleagues', and 'safe balance' instead of 'healthy balance'. Furthermore, word-form errors occur, such as 'others prefers' (though grammatical) and 'let people to relax' (incorrect infinitive usage after let). These errors do not impede communication, but they prevent the vocabulary from reaching a higher band, placing the response securely at Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional and concessive structures like 'Although both views have some merits, I believe...' and 'when employees from a firm meets...'. There are several grammatical errors scattered throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('employees... meets') and redundant phrasing ('spend their evening after working hours'). Punctuation and sentence boundaries are generally handled adequately, but the frequency of minor structural slips means that error-free sentences are not in the majority. Communication is never impeded, which justifies a solid Band 6 score for grammatical range and accuracy.

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