Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

Should workers have shorter working days and have a longer weekend? Unfortunately, I disagree. And before you judge my opinion. Give me a chance to explain my perspective.

Putting in mind that workers are exhausted and they need their rest, we can't neglect the passengers that need to arrive to the city and wouldn't be able to because workers have their days off. Giving workers more days off will only decrease the working days and give us less profit. Though workers here work so hard everyday to provide the best experience for boarding passengers, but if we do end up giving them a longer weekend we won't be able to give them higher paychecks due to the decreasing profits.

Now we're in a dilemma. We don't want unhappy workers especially because they do a lot for Port Harbour. But in the same time we need more working days. So we ask ourselves, what do we do in this situation? I have the solution. Why don't we hire more workers? That way we can give some workers their weekend and keep others doing the job! And when they need their weekend, the other workers will happily take their place after they enjoyed their long weekend! Its the perfect solution, no one's overworked, workers do their job happily and passengers are greeted with hospitality.

In conclusion, why do we either have to overwork our employees or completely give up on our precious working days. We can fix that by simply hiring more workers. That way everyone could be happy if its either our employees or passengers.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position against a shorter working week. However, the development is limited by a narrow focus on a specific, hypothetical scenario ('Port Harbour') rather than discussing the broader societal or economic implications of the topic. While the idea of hiring more staff is relevant, the argument lacks depth and fails to consider the complexities of the issue, such as productivity, work-life balance, or economic feasibility on a larger scale. The essay reads more like a specific business proposal than a balanced discussion of the prompt, which limits the score.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas from the introduction to the conclusion. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical and repetitive. For instance, the transition 'Now we're in a dilemma' is a bit informal and abrupt. While the paragraphing is sufficient, the logical flow between sentences could be smoother, and the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the sudden introduction of 'Port Harbour' without context. Overall, the structure is coherent, but the linking of ideas lacks sophistication.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. The student relies on common, everyday language such as 'give us less profit' and 'do a lot for'. There are some attempts at more specific vocabulary, but these are often used in a slightly unnatural way, such as 'provide the best experience for boarding passengers'. Spelling is generally accurate, but the overall lexical range is limited, and there is little evidence of less common collocations or idiomatic expressions that would demonstrate a higher level of proficiency.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The response uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with punctuation and sentence fragments. For example, 'And before you judge my opinion. Give me a chance to explain my perspective.' contains a sentence fragment. There are also issues with subject-verb agreement and preposition usage, such as 'in the same time' instead of 'at the same time'. While the meaning is generally clear, these persistent errors in basic grammar and punctuation prevent the essay from reaching a higher band score.

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

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