Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-09-28
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 5.0)
Some people say that the working week should be shorter and workers should have a longer weekend. I have a different opinion.
The working week and a longer weekend can be given to some extent. One main point is that those workers who work very long hours and get a short weekend so they should get these opportunities. They cannot have extra time to their family members. They cannot manage a good work-life balance. Their family members miss them and they also miss their families. If they get a long weekend they can enjoy their personal life: playing with their children, helping their spouse with cooking and other things, and so on. In addition, they can travel somewhere and spend quality time. Another one is the economy. Some people think this development can affect the economy, but more leisure time means more travel, more shopping, more hanging out.
To some extent, this development brings some outcomes. For example, if doctors and nurses have longer weekends the general public cannot get medical treatment, which increases problems. Moreover, the police stations should be open all the time because anyone can have bad situations. If there are no police officers people can be affected. Also, the army, and border guard remains in national border. So, anyone cannot be harmful for a country.
In conclusion, those people work very hard and cannot lead a normal life, they should have a shorter working hours and longer weekends. Government employees already have a schedule if they have more weekends, it can be serious.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0
The response addresses the prompt by discussing whether the working week should be shorter and a longer weekend introduced. However, the student's position is somewhat contradictory and unclear. In the introduction, the writer states, 'I have a different opinion,' but then the body paragraphs largely support the idea for certain workers, before concluding somewhat ambiguously about hard workers and government employees. Ideas are presented, such as the benefits for family life and the economic impacts, but they remain somewhat underdeveloped and lack strong, specific examples. For instance, the discussion on essential services in paragraph three raises relevant counter-arguments, but these are not fully tied into a cohesive stance. Consequently, the task achievement level aligns with Band 5.0, as the response is somewhat limited and the position is not consistently maintained.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0
The essay is organized into distinct paragraphs, attempting an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. However, the logical progression is frequently disrupted by abrupt transitions and disjointed sentences. For example, the sentence 'Another one is the economy' lacks clarity, and cohesive devices are often rudimentary or used inaccurately, as seen in 'Also, the army, and border guard remains in national border. So, anyone cannot be harmful for a country.' Paragraphing is attempted, but internal paragraph cohesion is weak, leading to a somewhat fragmented overall arrangement. This performance reflects the descriptors for Band 5.0, where organisation is present, but clear overall progression is lacking, and cohesive devices are inadequate or inaccurate.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, with frequent reliance on simple terms such as 'good', 'bad', and 'things'. There are noticeable word choice and collocation errors throughout the text, such as 'cannot have extra time to their family members' and 'anyone can have bad situations' instead of 'emergencies'. While the student attempts some less common phrasing like 'work-life balance' and 'general public', inaccuracies in usage restrict the precision of the argument. Spelling is generally acceptable, but the vocabulary range remains limited. These characteristics correspond to a Band 5.0, featuring a minimally adequate range with noticeable errors that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
The essay displays a mix of simple sentence structures and attempted complex forms, but control over grammar is weak. There are frequent grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues in 'those people work very hard... they should have a shorter working hours' and prepositions like 'in national border'. Conditional and complex structures are often faulty, for instance, 'if they have more weekends, it can be serious.' Punctuation and phrasing errors frequently require the reader to pause or reinterpret the intended meaning. This level of grammatical control fits best within Band 5.0, characterized by a limited range of structures, faulty attempts at complex sentences, and frequent errors.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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