Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-18

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 today's world, some people believe that the working week should be shorter and workers should have longer weekends. I strongly agree with view because this will help workers to reduce stress and plan shorter trips. This will allow them to manage house works such as buying groceries, house repairs and so on.

Firstly, longer weekends reduce the stress level of the workers. This is because working days create work pressure on employees which can be released during the weekend. For example, if an employee worked on an important project during week days, the employee may become tired of working. Longer weekend helps to overcome this situation and an employee can reduce the stress. Additionally, longer weekends encourage the workers to plan shorter family trips. If weekend consists of two-three days, an individual may become tired of staying at home. Therefore, the employees may plan shorter trips with their family.

Moreover, longer weekends helps the workers to manage their house works, especially for single households. During weekdays, employees usually have busy schedules and may not have enough time to buy groceries and make house repairs. Longer weekends may help employees to manage these works. Furthermore, longer weekends may reduce the number of sick leaves of an employee, taking every months. Employees usually take sick leaves to rest at their home. However, by providing the longer weekends, employees may reduce the number of sick leaves. This will increase the productivity of an employee and may benefit the companies.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt and maintains a clear position throughout. However, the essay is slightly under the 250-word minimum, which limits the depth of development. While the main ideas—stress reduction and household management—are relevant, the supporting arguments are somewhat repetitive. For instance, the point about 'house works' is mentioned in the introduction and then expanded upon in the second body paragraph, but the explanation remains quite basic. To reach a higher band, you should expand on the implications of a shorter work week, perhaps discussing the economic or societal impact more thoroughly. The failure to meet the minimum word count is a negative factor in Task Achievement.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, and there is a clear progression of ideas. You use cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Additionally', and 'Moreover' to link your points. However, some of the transitions feel a bit mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally repetitive (e.g., the frequent use of 'longer weekends' at the start of sentences). The paragraphing is appropriate, but the internal flow within paragraphs could be improved by varying the sentence structure and using a wider range of cohesive markers to connect ideas more fluidly rather than relying on simple additive transitions.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks sophistication. You use common terms like 'house works' (which should be 'household chores' or 'domestic tasks') and 'buy groceries'. There is some repetition of basic vocabulary, such as 'workers', 'employees', and 'longer weekends'. To improve, you should aim to incorporate more precise, topic-specific collocations and less common lexical items. For example, instead of 'reduce the stress level', you could use 'alleviate work-related pressure' or 'mitigate burnout'. The current range is sufficient to communicate your meaning, but it does not demonstrate the flexibility required for a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While your meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical inaccuracies. For example, 'I strongly agree with view' is missing an article ('the view'), and 'house works' is an uncountable noun. You also have errors in subject-verb agreement and phrasing, such as 'taking every months' and 'if weekend consists of'. While these errors do not impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. To improve, focus on article usage, pluralization, and ensuring that your complex sentences are constructed accurately.

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

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