Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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 the contemporary era, it is frequently argued that working week should be shorter so that workers could have longer weekend. While this perpective may seem convincing at first glance. I strongly disagree with this view. I believe that working weel should not be limited primarily because it can inhibit the workers growth and productivity along with causing the businesses or companies to suffer heavily.

To begin with, the primary reason why i disagree with this assertion is because it can have siginficant impacts on the development of an employee. This is largely because getting longer off days can make him less efficient as his focus may be shifted towards what he is going to do on holidays which ultimately can make him less efficiency in work. A pertinent illustration of this can be seen at my friend's workplace where the employeer specified only 3 days for working while rest of the days were meant for holidays for the staff which eventually affected the productivity and working ability of the employees.

Another compelling reason against this viewpoint is it can significantly cause loss to business. This can be largely attributed to the fact that if less concentration and effort is given to the business, then it will end up being at a great trouble. A consistent effort is reqired to run a successful business. For instance, if someone is running a grocery store, keeping the store closed in order to get longer weekend will definately not make a good profit. Consequently, this further demonstrates why this point difficult to justify.

All in all, considering the impacts of long weekend on workers as well as on businesses, i firmly disagree with the assertion that working week should be shorter.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student addresses the prompt directly by taking a clear stance against a shorter working week and provides relevant supporting arguments. The position is maintained throughout the response. Ideas are developed, such as the discussion on employee focus and business productivity, though they tend to rely on generalized reasoning rather than deeper elaboration. For instance, the example provided about a friend's workplace offers some support, but it remains somewhat anecdotal and brief. Overall, the response fulfills all the basic requirements of the task prompt, presenting a well-developed argument, which aligns closely with the expectations of Band 6.5 to 7.0. Given the clear positioning and relevant support, a band score of 6.5 is appropriate here.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a clear logical organization with an introduction, two distinct body paragraphs, and a concluding summary. The progression of ideas is generally easy to follow, utilizing standard cohesive markers such as 'To begin with' and 'Another compelling reason'. However, referencing and cohesion occasionally feel slightly mechanical or repetitive, and paragraphing could be tighter. For example, the transition between sentences in the second body paragraph could flow more naturally. Nevertheless, the overall arrangement is coherent, and the reader is never lost. These features comfortably place the essay within the Band 6.0 to 6.5 range.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary suitable for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'contemporary era', 'assertion', and 'productivity'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors, including 'perpective' instead of 'perspective', 'weel' instead of 'week', 'siginficant', 'employeer' instead of 'employer', 'reqired', 'definately', and lowercase 'i' pronouns. Despite these inaccuracies, communication is not impeded, and the meaning remains clear throughout. The student shows sufficient resource to convey ideas, but slips in spelling and minor lexical control keep the score at Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating the ability to construct multi-clause sentences such as 'While this perpective may seem convincing at first glance, I strongly disagree with this view.' Grammatical control is generally decent, but there are several recurring mechanical and structural errors, including missing articles ('working week' used without 'the' initially), punctuation flaws (comma splice before 'I strongly disagree'), and pronoun capitalization issues ('i'). Despite these errors, they rarely impede communication, allowing the reader to follow the arguments without significant confusion. This balanced mix of correct structures alongside frequent minor errors typifies a Band 6.0 performance.

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.