Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-07

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)

Most argue that the legal week should be shorter and the workers should have a more extensive period to rest but i disagree with this notion completely because weekends are reserved for special occasions mostly related to religious practices and family related businesses.

First off, as most individuals know that the weekends are reserved for religious practices as we can see in different religions like in Islam which regards Fridays and Thursdays as highly spiritual days for praying, giving charity and reading the Quran because they believe that the reward for doing so is increased by threefold on these days. Muslims believe that the angels will descent down to the earth on these two days and record every good deed we did on these days back to a higher being called Allah who has the ability to bring forth miracles. For Muslims just two days of the weekend are more than enough to perform religious duties.

Secondly, there is another reason that weekends are better off short students or pupils who go to university or school mostly get off-track studies by getting involved with games, movies and other useless activities that are harmful for health and mental wellbeing like consuming junk food and a lot of bad stuff. In this scenario it is better to have a shorter weekend so that procrastination

won't have the chance to take over. Especially lazy people get affected by these type of problems.

In conclusion, shorter weekends are better when compared to longer weekends because of a lot of different factors like procrastination and religious practices.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position against shortening the working week. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and relies on narrow arguments. The first body paragraph focuses exclusively on religious practices, which is a specific cultural perspective rather than a broader societal or economic argument. The second paragraph makes a sweeping generalization about students and 'lazy people' to argue against longer weekends, which lacks depth and logical rigor. To improve, you should explore the broader economic, psychological, or productivity-related implications of a shorter working week to provide a more balanced and comprehensive academic discussion. The ideas presented are relevant but remain under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. You use basic cohesive devices like 'First off', 'Secondly', and 'In conclusion' to signal the progression of your argument. However, the internal flow within paragraphs is sometimes mechanical, and the transition between sentences could be smoother. For example, the jump from discussing religious practices to the behavior of students in the second paragraph feels abrupt. Additionally, some referencing is slightly unclear, and the use of cohesive devices is somewhat repetitive. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring a more logical connection between your supporting points would enhance the overall coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to convey your meaning clearly. You use some topic-specific terms like 'spiritual days', 'procrastination', and 'mental wellbeing'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are instances of imprecise word choice, such as 'bad stuff' and 'get off-track studies', which are too informal for an academic essay. To reach a higher band, you should aim to incorporate more precise, academic vocabulary and avoid colloquialisms. Focusing on collocations and more sophisticated synonyms for common words will help demonstrate a wider lexical range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, though the control over complex sentences is inconsistent. There are several grammatical errors, such as 'as most individuals know that the weekends are' (incorrect clause structure), 'angels will descent' (should be 'descend'), and 'these type of problems' (should be 'these types'). Punctuation is generally functional, but there are some issues with sentence boundaries and missing commas. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to impact the overall fluency. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and refining your use of complex sentence forms will lead to better accuracy.

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

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