Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-26

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)

The idea that working week should be shortened while extending the weekend has become increasingly popular in recent years. This essay will discuss both the view explaining why I believe longer weekends are essential.

One of the main reasons why shorter week is beneficial is that allows workers to maintain healthier work-life balance. In many countries, employees often experience stress and burnout due to long working hours and limited time for rest. By having longer weekend, individuals can spend more time with their families, pursue hobbies and recover both physically and mentally. As a result, they are likely to return to work feeling refreshed and motivated..

In addition, reducing the number of working days does not necessarily lead to lower productivity. In fact several studies have shown that employees tend to work more efficiently when they have limited time to complete their tasks. For example, compaines that have adopted a four-day working week have reported increased output and higher job satisfaction among staff. This suggests that quality of work can be more important than the number of hours spent in the work place.

However, it is important to acknowledge that this approacch may not be suitable for all industries. Sectors such as healthcare and customer services often requires continuous staffing, which makes it difficult to reduce working days without affecting service quality. Nevertheless, with proper planning and flexible scheduling, even these challenges can be managed.

In conclusion, I believe that shorte working week with a longer weekend is a positive development, as it is beneficial for both employees and employers by imroving well-being and maintaing productivity.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

The student addresses all parts of the task by clearly stating a position in the introduction and supporting it throughout the body paragraphs. The ideas are relevant and well-developed, exploring how a shorter working week promotes a healthier work-life balance, maintains or even boosts productivity, and considering industry limitations. For example, in the second paragraph, the writer explains how extra free time helps individuals recover physically and mentally. Although the thesis statement in the introduction has a minor phrasing issue ("discuss both the view explaining why"), the overall response successfully addresses the prompt and maintains a clear, consistent position throughout. This performance aligns comfortably with the Band 7 descriptor, as all parts of the prompt are addressed with extended and supported ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The essay demonstrates clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Each paragraph has a distinct central topic, moving smoothly from the introduction to benefits regarding well-being, productivity impacts, potential counterarguments regarding specific industries, and a concise conclusion. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well, such as 'In addition', 'For example', 'However', and 'In conclusion', though some minor mechanical errors appear in transitional links. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately to group related ideas together. Referencing is generally clear, and the overall progression keeps the reader oriented. This corresponds well to a Band 7 score due to the clear logical progression and adequate use of cohesive devices.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

The student uses a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow some flexibility and precision, incorporating less common items such as 'work-life balance', 'burnout', 'continuous staffing', and 'flexible scheduling'. There are, however, a few minor word-choice and spelling inaccuracies that prevent a higher band, such as 'shorte' instead of 'shorter', 'compaines' instead of 'companies', 'approacch' instead of 'approach', 'imroving' instead of 'improving', and 'maintaing' instead of 'maintaining'. Despite these typographical and spelling errors, the vocabulary is adequate for the task, and communication is never impeded. These characteristics fit the Band 6 descriptor well, as the writer has an adequate range with occasional spelling and word-choice slips.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at varied structures such as relative clauses and conditional ideas ('Sectors such as healthcare and customer services often requires continuous staffing...'). There are some noticeable grammatical errors, such as missing articles ('working week should be shortened' instead of 'the working week', 'allow workers' instead of 'allows workers', 'longer weekend' instead of 'a longer weekend') and subject-verb agreement issues ('services often requires'). However, these errors rarely impede communication and the meaning remains clear throughout. This balance of complex sentence attempts alongside recurrent grammatical slips places the essay solidly at Band 6.

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.