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)

The people should work less and have more off days in a week. Although the idea seems to be very relaxing, it is not practically applicaple. In my opinion, there should be a balanced system for workers.

If people have long working hours, it can be harmful for their health. For instance, if a person is working hard and not relaxing enough, this will disturb his sleep, increases stress, and damages the overall well being. Furthermore, working frequently can also make a person distant from his family. When an individual works long, he comes home tired and wants to relax as soon as possible. In such cases, these individuals cannot spend the quality time with their families. The other disadavnatge of working more days could be the less productivty. It has often been observed that a well relaxed person is more creative in comparison to the exhausted one.

On the other hand, people who have long weekends will spend more money on leisure activities. This approach has negative effects in terms of budgeting. For example, if a person is working more, he has less time to spend his money on unnecessary things. Moreover, working less hours in a week will increase the work load. As people have long weekends, they will have less time to complete their tasks. In such situations, people might not be able to relax completely. As their work load remain same but the time is reduced.

In conclusion, It is as important for a person to relax as it is to work. The workers should maintain a balance between their work and realxing hours in order to be healthy and more productive.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses the task directly, taking a balanced view that neither fully agrees nor disagrees, which is a sound approach for this prompt. The writer presents relevant ideas regarding health, family time, productivity, and financial budgeting. For instance, the discussion on how long hours increase stress and reduce sleep effectively supports the argument against excessive work. However, some ideas remain slightly under-developed; the counter-argument regarding financial spending on leisure is touched upon but not fully extended. Furthermore, there are minor typos such as 'applicaple' and 'disadavnatge'. Overall, the position is clear throughout and meets the criteria for Band 6.5, leaning towards Band 7 for covering all parts well, but limited by some slight lack of full extension in the body paragraphs.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a clear overall progression, dividing the arguments into a logical structure with a distinct introduction, body paragraphs for opposing views, and a concluding summary. Cohesive devices such as 'Although', 'For instance', 'Furthermore', and 'On the other hand' are employed to guide the reader through the text. However, referencing and cohesion are occasionally faulty or mechanical; for example, the phrase 'The other disadavnatge' appears without smooth integration, and paragraphing could be tighter, as the final body paragraph mixes the financial point with a separate point about workload. Paragraphing is used sufficiently, but mechanical transitional phrases place this firmly in the Band 6 category.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common terms such as 'productivity', 'leisure activities', and 'budgeting'. However, there are notable spelling errors ('applicaple', 'disadavnatge', 'productivty', 'realxing') and some awkward word choices, such as 'off days' instead of 'days off' or 'rest days', and 'spend the quality time' with an unnecessary article. While these errors do not impede communication, they reflect the characteristics of Band 6, where an adequate range is shown alongside noticeable spelling and word-choice inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing conditional structures ('if a person is working hard and not relaxing enough, this will disturb his sleep') and concessive clauses ('Although the idea seems to be very relaxing...'). There are several grammatical errors present, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('this will disturb his sleep, increases stress, and damages'), article misuse ('spend the quality time'), and punctuation errors in the conclusion ('In conclusion, It is...'). Despite these errors, they rarely impede communication, allowing the response to achieve a solid Band 6.

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

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