Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

In the last few years, the idea of getting longer weekends and shortning working days has been circulating among employees in a rapide pace. Although, it might impact the economy badly more then it will endure it.

The working class in our moderen age think that by decreasing the number of working days will automatically gives them the freedom and enjoyment that they dream about. However, this might do more harm then good. For instance, the productivity of the society as a whole will decrease dramatically due to the fact that the majority of workers have a weekend and most of day to day jobs require workers daily.

Furthermore, even though you are not working you won't enjoy your time as much as you used to because you will have more free time then usual, and the human nature tend to get bored quit fast if it can't do a new activity or have nothing to do in that free time.

Meanwhile, if you have less free time you will try to do new activities in a weekly bases rather than doing all of them in one week and ending up of plenty of time but without anything to do. Which will impact your life negativily in the long run, since now your weekends will be boring and too long to enjoy them. That's being said, i do not encourage dissmissing your weekends either. We must have a good balance between work and weekdays.

In the end, we can say that the real challange is how to enjoy and take advantage of your weekends rather than extending them to the point of you can no longer benefite from them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student addresses the prompt by taking a clear stance against shortening the working week and extending weekends. The position is maintained throughout the response, and relevant ideas regarding economic impact, productivity, and human psychology are introduced. However, the development of these ideas lacks depth and specific examples, relying instead on generalized statements like "productivity of the society as a whole will decrease dramatically." There is also a slight confusion in terminology towards the end where the student mentions "a good balance between work and weekdays" instead of weekends, which slightly blurs the argument. Consequently, the response fulfills the basic requirements of addressing all parts of the task with a clear position, but the ideas require further extension and more rigorous support to reach a higher band. Therefore, a band score of 6.0 is appropriate.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion. Paragraphing is utilized, though the body paragraphs are somewhat fragmented. Cohesive devices such as "Although," "However," "Furthermore," and "Meanwhile" are employed to guide the reader through the text, but their usage is occasionally mechanical or inaccurate, as seen with the concessive transition "Although, it might impact the economy badly more then it will endure it." Referencing and substitution are generally clear, but logical progression between sentences occasionally falters, particularly in the fourth paragraph where the argument regarding free time becomes convoluted. Overall, the organizational structure is adequate for an IELTS band 6.0, as the progression is generally logical despite some faulty cohesion.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as "circulating," "productivity," and "negatively." However, there are frequent spelling errors ("rapide" instead of rapid, "moderen" instead of modern, "challange" instead of challenge) and inaccurate word choices or collocations (e.g., "shortning working days," "impact the economy ... more then it will endure it," "quit fast" instead of quite fast, "weekly bases" instead of weekly basis). These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score. Because the vocabulary range is sufficient to convey the message despite noticeable inaccuracies, this performance corresponds to a band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some variety in grammatical structures. The student attempts complex sentences using subordinating conjunctions like "due to the fact that" and "even though you are not working." However, there are persistent grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text, including punctuation slips ("That's being said, i do not encourage..."), capitalization errors (lowercase "i"), and agreement or comparative errors ("more harm then good," "more free time then usual," "ending up of plenty of time"). While these errors are noticeable, they rarely impede overall communication. The command of grammar and punctuation fits the criteria for a band 6.0.

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

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