Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-07

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 6.5)

The amount of days spent working during the week should be reduced to allow workers to have more time off at the weekend.

Within this piece of text, I plan to outline the reasons why I agree with this statement.

Firstly, I believe it would be better for people's overall health and well-being if the working week was reduced. Having a longer weekend would enable people to have more free time to themselves. This would allow people to spend more time with people they want and also to engage in things they want to do other than work. As a result, people are more likely to engage in healthier habits, for example exercising and feeling better about themselves. Furthermore, it increases opportunities for people to socialise more and also mitigates the chance of people feeling stressed due to work.

In addition to this, I think it would also benefit the employer as it could increase productivity in the workplace. If people had more time off, they could potentially have more energy to complete work during the week to the best of their ability and avoid feeling low in energy whilst at work or experiencing burn-out. Therefore, they would feel more enthusiastic to work Thus, there is a greater chance of more productive work being completed during the working week.

To conclude, I believe the working week is too long and the weekend should be increased, reducing the working week. To me, the pros of this outweigh the cons and for that reason I agree with the statement.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses the prompt clearly and maintains a consistent position throughout. The arguments regarding health and productivity are relevant and logically developed. However, the essay is somewhat brief, and the ideas could be extended further with more specific examples or evidence to reach a higher band. For instance, the point about 'healthier habits' is a good start but could be supported by mentioning specific activities or societal trends. The conclusion is a bit repetitive, merely restating the introduction rather than synthesising the main points. Overall, the response is well-focused and meets the requirements of the task.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organised with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used effectively to separate distinct ideas. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Furthermore', 'In addition to this', and 'Therefore' are used to guide the reader through the argument. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and the flow between sentences could be improved by using a wider variety of referencing and substitution. The progression of ideas is clear, but the overall structure is quite simple, which limits the score for this criterion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express their ideas clearly. There is some attempt to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'well-being', 'mitigates', and 'burn-out'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there is a reliance on basic phrasing such as 'people' and 'things they want to do'. To achieve a higher band, the student should incorporate more precise, academic collocations and less common lexical items. The word choice is generally accurate, and there are no significant spelling errors that impede communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.5

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. Most sentences are grammatically correct, and the meaning is always clear. There are some minor punctuation issues, such as the missing full stop before 'Thus' in the second body paragraph. While the writer uses some complex structures, the range is not particularly wide, and the control over these structures is not yet consistent enough for a higher band. The grammar is generally reliable, but more variety in sentence construction and more sophisticated use of subordination would enhance the quality of the writing.

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

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