Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-14

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)

It is often argued by some people that jobholders should have a long weekend and a shorter working week. Although some people might disagree with this statement, I completely agree. Not only because long weekends offer extra time to spend with their families and to complete pending tasks, but also because they give time to relax their bodies and refresh their minds.

There are multiple benefits associated with having longer weekends. Firstly, a three-day weekend offers more time to spend with their families and friends to build strong relationships with them. As due to a lack of time, most people do not spend time with their relatives, in result, they lose their relationships. Take an example of the Netherlands, in recent most of people there have nice and strong relationships with their family and friends, mainly because their government, in 2001, made an initiative in terms of long weekends. Thus, it is proven that having short week days beneficial for people's internal relationships.

Secondly, completing pending tasks on weekends is another benefit of this development. As most of people in today's world delay their household tasks for weekends due to insufficient time on weekdays. For instance, in Mongolia, it is expected that by the year 2030, all people there will be do their all household tasks by themselves on weekends, mainly because recently their government made new laws and regulations to expand weekends as compared with previous years, people will have enough time to do their pending tasks. Hence, longer weekends are indeed beneficial for people.

Finally, and also three-days weekends gives enough time for relaxation of thier minds and bodies. As working hard in a pressure environment for a whole week, every worker needs time to repair their body and refresh their mind.

To sum up, I believe that weekends should be longer rather than shorter, not only it gives enough time for building healthy relationship with family member and friends and to completel household tasks, but also for gives proper time to repair thier body.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response clearly addresses the prompt by taking a definite stance in agreement with a shorter working week and longer weekends. The main ideas—spending time with family, completing pending tasks, and mental and physical relaxation—are relevant and directly support the position. However, there are some limitations in task fulfillment. The introduction contains a sentence fragment ("Not only because long weekends offer...") which detracts from the overall development, and the conclusion is grammatically unstable. Furthermore, the examples provided, such as the specific future prediction about Mongolia by 2030, feel somewhat contrived or unsupported. Despite these issues, all parts of the task are addressed, earning a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is generally coherent with a clear overall progression. The response is divided into logical paragraphs, with a discernible introduction, body paragraphs addressing distinct points, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'To sum up' are used to structure the text, though some linking expressions are flawed, such as 'in result' instead of 'as a result'. Paragraphing is handled adequately, but referencing is occasionally weak, particularly with pronoun use like 'they' and 'their', which sometimes creates ambiguity regarding who is being referred to. Overall, the organizational structure meets the criteria for Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'pending tasks', 'relatives', and 'relaxation'. However, there are notable lexical errors and awkward collocations throughout the essay. For instance, the writer uses 'jobholders' acceptably, but writes 'internal relationships' when referring to family bonds, and uses 'short week days' instead of 'shorter work weeks'. Spelling errors also occur, such as 'thier' instead of 'their'. While communication is not severely impeded, these inaccuracies and limited precision prevent the score from reaching a higher band, placing it solidly at Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but control over grammar is inconsistent. There are several significant grammatical errors, including sentence fragments ('Not only because long weekends...'), incorrect verb forms ('will be do their all household tasks'), and subject-verb agreement issues. Punctuation and prepositions also show frequent lapses, such as 'Take an example of the Netherlands' instead of 'Take the Netherlands as an example'. While some complex structures are attempted, they often result in faulty grammar that can occasionally cause difficulty for the reader, which aligns with the Band 5.0 descriptors.

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

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