Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 17 · 2026-10-04

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 6.0)

Some individuals believe that it is a good idea to go out with colleagues during evenings and weekends, while others argue that people should keep their working life completely separate from social life. Although, both views have their own merits, I believe that connecting with work colleagues outside the workplace benefits individuals not only personally but also professionally.

On the one hand, socialise with work partners helps individuals on a personal level and strengthen relationship between them. Having a same friend at workplace and outside it creates better understanding of their perosnal lives and allow them to help each other in difficult time. Additionally, going outside on weekends allows them to open up personally, which help them to share their ideas, problems and suggestions without hesitations. Moreover, such idea to socialise also improve co-ordination and productivity at workplace, which ultimately benefited to the company. For example, two friendly colleagues would help each others in managing work, office meetings and leaves, such as if one employee is on the leave then his friendly colleague take over all the work.

On the other hand, some think to keep working life completely separate from social life because of balanced work-life balance. People are socialise and spending time during evenings and weekends to get rid of stress and workload, but spending time with the same office colleagues does not allow individuals to be stress free.This is because such socialisation also involve conversation related to work, which increase stress of an individual. Furthermore, it is important to maintain one gap line between colleague to maintain professionalism at a workplace.

To conclude, although some people believe to keep professional life completely separate from social life, I believe that socialise with colleagues strengthen relationship and improve efficiency and productivity at a workplace.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task, discussing both the view that socialising with colleagues is beneficial and the perspective that working and social lives should remain entirely separate, while also providing a clear personal opinion. The length requirement is fully met, and a few words copied directly from the prompt have been correctly discounted. Ideas are generally relevant, but some are more fully developed than others. For instance, the arguments regarding personal bonding and company productivity are supported with specific examples, such as two friendly colleagues managing work and leaves. However, the counter-arguments regarding work-life balance and stress are somewhat under-developed and lack the same depth of extension. To reach a higher level, all competing viewpoints would need equal, thorough elaboration and more robust supporting examples throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear structure that includes an introduction, body paragraphs addressing each viewpoint, and a conclusion. Information and ideas are logically sequenced, guiding the reader smoothly through the discussion. However, cohesion at times feels mechanical or faulty due to repetitive phrasing and occasional awkward referencing, such as 'such idea to socialise' and 'maintain one gap line'. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, with each main point housed in its own distinct section. To achieve a more advanced level, the writer needs to employ a wider range of cohesive devices more flexibly and ensure seamless transitions between sentences without relying on repetitive connective structures.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating central ideas about workplace relationships and personal boundaries. There are several attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'co-ordination', 'productivity', and 'professionalism', but these are accompanied by notable inaccuracies in word choice, form, and collocation. Examples of lexical slips include 'socialise' used instead of the noun or gerund form (e.g., 'socialise with work partners' and 'socialise with colleagues'), 'perosnal lives', 'Having a same friend', and 'increase stress of an individual'. While these errors do not seriously impede communication, they reflect a limited control over word formation and grammatical category. To progress, the writer must expand their lexical repertoire and refine word forms to ensure natural collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writing demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating subordinating clauses such as 'Although both views have their own merits, I believe that...' and 'while others argue that...'. There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, including missing articles ('on the leave'), pluralization issues ('difficult time' instead of 'difficult times'), and prepositional or agreement errors ('help each others', 'would help each others'). Despite these lapses, the structures are generally controlled well enough that the errors rarely impede communication and permit the reader to follow the argument. To move to the next level, the writer needs to increase the proportion of error-free complex sentences and demonstrate greater precision in grammatical patterns.

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