Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-04

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)

It is often argued that the working week should be shorter and employees should have a longer weekend. I agree with this statement because a shorter working week can help people achieve a better work-life balance and increase their productivity.

To begin with, there is an array of advantages of longer weekends. The most important one to be considered that better life balance. As a consequence, it impacts individuals in a positive way by having more time for family and friends. They can help them relax and reduce stress caused by long working hours. For example, employees who have an extra day off may have more time to exercise, travel or take care of their children. Additionally, they can relax their mind and body. As a result, when they go back to the job their physical and mental health is perfect. Therefore, a shorter working week can improve people's quality of life.

Another crucial benefit is higher productivity. Eventually, it can have an effect on workers due to employees may work more efficiently. For instance, a worker who rested well on the weekend and when they come back to their job their physical and mental health are well, they make less mistakes. As a result, employees do not suffer a significant reduction in salary. Therefore, shorter working hours can benefit both employees and their performance.

In conclusion, I agree that the working week should be shorter and the weekend should be longer. This can give people a better work-life balance and help them become more productive at work.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses the prompt clearly, maintaining a consistent position throughout. The ideas regarding work-life balance and productivity are relevant and logically extended. However, the development is somewhat repetitive; for instance, the argument about 'physical and mental health' is mentioned in both body paragraphs in a very similar way. To reach a higher band, you should aim to provide more distinct, varied supporting evidence or examples for each point. While the main ideas are clear, the depth of analysis could be improved by exploring the potential counter-arguments or the broader societal implications of a shorter working week.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas. You use cohesive devices such as 'To begin with', 'Additionally', and 'As a result' to link sentences. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical or repetitive, such as the frequent use of 'As a result' and 'Therefore'. Furthermore, some referencing is slightly unclear, such as in the sentence 'The most important one to be considered that better life balance', which lacks a verb and creates a disjointed flow. Improving the variety of linking words would enhance the overall cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to express your ideas clearly. You use some topic-specific terms like 'work-life balance', 'productivity', and 'efficiently'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are instances of awkward phrasing or minor collocation errors, such as 'make less mistakes' (should be 'make fewer mistakes') and 'perfect' (which is a bit hyperbolic in this context). To improve, try to incorporate more sophisticated synonyms and collocations to demonstrate a wider range of vocabulary, rather than relying on simpler, repetitive descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical slips that occur throughout the text. For example, 'The most important one to be considered that better life balance' is a sentence fragment. You also have issues with subject-verb agreement and preposition usage, such as 'when they come back to their job their physical and mental health are well'. These errors do not impede communication, but they do indicate a need for more careful proofreading and a better grasp of complex sentence construction to reach a higher band.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.