Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-11-13

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

The working week should be shorter and workers should have a longer weekend.

Do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

In recent years, there has been growing debate about shorter working weeks and longer weekends.

To begin with, this idea is very interesting especially for people who enjoy having outdoors week-ends and for those who live far away from their families. Having a three days week-end, give them more time to travel somewhere fro a week-end, or visiting their families more often. It could also benefit people who are travelling a lot either for work or personal leisure, especially if they have the possibilty to work remotly.

Hoewever, I believe that shorter weeks and longer weekends could also have significant disadvantages.

The main reason of my disgreement is that if we want longer week-ends we are excpeted to work more during the week-day to compensate the extra day off. This is can be extremely exhausting and manage more stress for people who have to achieve tasks quickly.

Another important point is the childen. In my opinion, I don't think children should study longer to have more time during the week-end. They need stability and breaks to make sure their brains are not overwhelmed. Days are already long for them and the lack of intention that they have during the afternoon, make me think that adding school time would be a bad idea. Otherwise, keeping the school schedule and remove one day can be a solution, but that also means than we have to reduce school holidays to make sure the teachers had time to finish the school program.

Finally, if we change the school schedule to remove one day, it can create difficulties for some working parents who are not able to have a shorter week and are not available to stay with their children, especially for some profession such as doctors, firefighters and any other profession where the remote is not available.

In conclusion, this question present both advantages and disadvantages, depending on people personal needs and jobs possibilities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the question by considering benefits of a longer weekend and explaining why you disagree, particularly through concerns about heavier workloads, children’s study schedules, and parents’ childcare needs. Your position becomes clear in “The main reason of my disagreement,” but the opening paragraph mainly presents advantages without clearly stating your own view, so the stance is not fully consistent from the outset. Some points are relevant but need fuller explanation: for example, the effect on children is discussed at length, while the connection between a shorter working week and longer daily hours is asserted rather than supported with a concrete example. State your position in the introduction and develop the strongest reasons with specific evidence or examples to make the response more complete and persuasive.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for the main arguments, and a conclusion. Sequencing phrases such as “To begin with,” “However,” and “Finally” help readers follow the discussion. The progression is generally understandable, although the first body paragraph’s benefits are not clearly linked to your eventual disagreement, and the conclusion says the issue has “both advantages and disadvantages” rather than restating your own position. Some connections are also awkward or unclear, particularly the shift from children’s study hours to school holidays. Make the relationship between each paragraph and your central argument more explicit, and use referencing and transitions to show how each point supports your position rather than relying mainly on signposting phrases.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “remote,” “stability,” “overwhelmed,” “compensate,” and “available,” which helps communicate ideas about work and family life. However, several spelling errors and inaccurate word choices reduce precision, such as “possibilty,” “remotly,” “disgreement,” and “intention” where you appear to mean children’s attention or concentration. Some collocations are also unnatural, including “having outdoors week-ends,” “manage more stress,” and “the remote is not available.” These choices are usually understandable from context, but they make parts of the response less fluent. Build accuracy by checking spelling and learning common word partnerships for work schedules, childcare, and school routines; this will make your vocabulary more precise without needing unnecessarily complex words.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional structures such as “if we want longer week-ends” and explanations using “especially if.” This gives the response some variety, and the main ideas are generally recoverable. However, there are several errors in agreement, verb forms, articles, and sentence construction. For example, “Having a three days week-end, give them” has a singular subject followed by a plural verb, while “This is can be” combines incompatible verb forms. In “this question present,” the verb does not agree with its subject, and “that also means than we have to reduce” uses an incorrect clause construction. Review subject–verb agreement and the forms used after modal verbs, and proofread longer sentences for complete, correctly connected clauses.

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