Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-01

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)

The working week should be shorter, workers should have a longer weekend

No , the working week should not be shorter neither they weekend should have a longer weekend. We know that there are two weekend days which are Saturday and Sunday and there are only five working days already. Cutting them to less than five can affect the businesses in a negative way. Moreover, this will also affect some people especially students.

Firstly , I would like to provide some merits of current weekend system. It is disciplined and managed in a way that it does not harm anyone neither have a negative impact on it. Even the global markets including banks follow this system. If we cut the working days then it will directly affect the markets , more quick decisions will be taken. Also, doing more work in shorter time can cause many mistakes due to pressure of time running short. In addition, this will cause longer shifts and disturb the current system.

Secondly, this will affect the people directly too. The people who are paid by the number of hours will get affected as their total week hours will be affected drastically.

Not only that , this will affect the education system too. Students will have more free time which will end up making them wasting more of their time. Not every student will be affected but not all students are disciplined too. Also the businesses like delivery of goods will also be affected. Even a day late will end up ruining so much of the routines and whatsoever.

Last but not least , changing an already disciplined and managed week system will interupt everyone’s way of living their week . Not saying that people won’t be happy, they will be but that will just promote laziness in most of the people. I strongly disagree with the weekend system getting changed even an inch, it should be as it is.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by clearly stating a position against shortening the working week. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention economic impacts and the effect on students, the arguments are often repetitive and lack specific, concrete examples to support the claims. For instance, the point about 'delivery of goods' is mentioned but not explained in detail. To reach a higher band, you should expand on your points with more depth and provide clearer, more logical links between the proposed change and the negative consequences you describe.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow your argument. You use some cohesive devices like 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'Last but not least' to signal the structure. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and the referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the phrase 'does not harm anyone neither have a negative impact on it'. The logical progression is generally coherent, but the transitions between ideas could be smoother to improve the overall readability of the text.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to express your opinion clearly. You use some relevant terms like 'disciplined', 'global markets', and 'drastically'. However, there is a lack of variety and some instances of imprecise word choice, such as 'whatsoever' used at the end of a sentence, which is informal and contextually inappropriate. To improve, try to incorporate more topic-specific collocations and avoid repetitive phrasing to demonstrate a wider range of vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text. Examples include 'neither they weekend should have' (should be 'nor should the weekend'), 'not all students are disciplined too' (awkward phrasing), and 'interupt' (spelling error). While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your main point, they occur frequently enough to impact the overall fluency. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and correct preposition usage will help improve your accuracy.

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

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