Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-27
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)
Nowadays, this topic has been widely discussed that working week should be shorter and workers should have a longer weekend.
Many IT companies such as Google, Microsoft, Meta gives flexible time schedule which can help employees to manage their weekdays and weekend. I am working as software developer in an IT company and I mostly work for 10-11 hrs from monday to thursday which in return makes my working week shorter and allows me to have a longer weekend.I agree to this view to a large extent as companies are now giving flexible time schedule then workers should have a longer weekend making their working week shorter.
In addition, many companies have there own rules and policies. We are living in digital word now and even technology has changed a lot nowadays which can make things easy for workers to get their things done even if they are not physically present to the site of the company. Like before few days I was on vacation with my family and suddenly there was server error in an e-commerce product which I built, but as i was carrying my laptop with me at that time the error got fixed at the moment when I got to knew about that.So this got possible only due to my company policies and its flexible time schedule.
But in many cases there are significant drawbacks of having longer weekend.For instance, a friend of mine took a personal leave last week and was not available to work on weekend which made a massive loss to the company as there was a sudden need of him to take care of the things for product on which he worked but as he want not available, the client got upset and it lead to big financial loss to the company.So in result company made change in there policies by appling sandwich leave and ensured that workers can take lonegr weekend but they need to get their work done in proper way before that.
In conclusion, I personally belive that workers/employees should get longer weekend and shorter working week but they should make sure that they wrap their things up in proper way before having a long weekend and even be available to resolve any issue remotely when things goes wrong.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt directly and takes a clear position agreeing with the proposition to a large extent. The student incorporates relevant personal experience as a software developer working compressed hours, which supports the main argument. However, the development tends to rely heavily on narrative anecdote rather than broader societal or economic analysis. Although all parts of the task are addressed, the ideas remain somewhat personal and anecdotal, which places this response comfortably in Band 6. The position is maintained throughout, but deeper extension of arguments regarding productivity, economic impact, or mental health would be needed to reach higher bands.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with clear paragraphing, including an introduction, body paragraphs addressing different angles, and a conclusion. However, cohesion is at times mechanical or faulty. For instance, transitional phrases like 'Like before few days' or 'So this got possible' and 'So in result' demonstrate awkward linking. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as pronoun use referring back to vague antecedents. Paragraphs are demarcated, but the flow between sentences can feel disjointed due to run-on phrasing and missing punctuation boundaries. These features reflect the Band 6 descriptor, where cohesion is present but frequently awkward or mechanical.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully using terms related to the workplace, such as 'flexible time schedule', 'server error', 'personal leave', and 'financial loss'. However, there are noticeable word-choice and collocation errors, such as 'gives flexible time schedule' instead of 'offer flexible time schedules', 'digital word' instead of 'digital world', 'got to knew' instead of 'got to know', and 'appling sandwich leave'. These errors do not impede communication, but they highlight limitations that restrict the score to Band 6. Less common lexical items are attempted, but control is inconsistent.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as 'Many IT companies such as Google, Microsoft, Meta gives flexible time schedule which can help employees to manage their weekdays and weekend.' There are several grammatical errors and punctuation issues throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement errors ('companies... gives'), missing articles ('as software developer'), and awkward phrasing ('as he want not available'). Although these errors are frequent, they rarely impede communication. The control over complex structures is limited, as clauses are often strung together with coordinating conjunctions or relative pronouns rather than seamlessly integrated. This matches the Band 6 profile.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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