Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-01

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)

Employment is an indispensable part of adult life, not only providing financial stability but also shaping individual identity. In today's fast-paced life, it is often argued that, the daily working hours should be shorter and workers should have a longer weekend. I strongly agree with above mentioned statement.

To commence with, there are several reasons why individuals should work shorter. The first and foremost is, relaxation. To explain it, in long holidays workers can relief their stress as well as rejuvenate their mind because they can spend quality of time with their family and friends, even though it can also strngthen their bonding. For instance, in countries like Iceland and Germany, companies tried a four day and workers reported less stresPotential environmental benefits: Fewer commuting days could reduce traffic and transport-related emissions, especially where remote work or compressed schedules are possible.s and make happiness. Moreover, it can also increase productivity of the company because individuals can generate new ideas.

Moving further, the another prominent merit is, individuals can learn new skills according to their interest as well as, they can give time to their hobbies which can improve their mental and physical well-being. Addtionally, greater job satisfaction Employees may feel more motivated and valued when they have more personal time and they work hardly for their company. Potential environmental benefits: Fewer commuting days could reduce traffic and carbon emissions, especially where remote work or compressed schedules are possible.

To encapsulate, after analyzing all the aspects, there are many benefits of long holidays like mental and physical heatlh improvement, work-life balance and increase productivity.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response6.0
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.5
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by presenting a clear position agreeing that the working week should be shorter and workers should have a longer weekend. Relevant ideas are introduced, such as stress reduction, health improvement, and increased productivity, which correspond to the prompt requirements. However, some ideas are under-developed or less fully explored. For instance, the mention of Iceland and Germany is cut off abruptly and pasted over by stray text fragments regarding environmental benefits, which disrupts the logical flow and leaves the supporting examples incomplete. To reach a higher level, all main ideas should be consistently extended and thoroughly explained with clear, uninterrupted examples throughout the entire response.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear stance stated in the introduction and summarized in the conclusion. Paragraphing is attempted to separate distinct points such as relaxation and skill development. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty and mechanical, with abrupt transitions like 'To commence with' and 'Moving further' feeling formulaic rather than smoothly integrated. Furthermore, the presence of stray, duplicated sentences regarding environmental benefits disrupts the logical progression of the text and obscures referencing. To improve, the writer needs to ensure that cohesive devices are used more naturally and that information is sequenced without accidental repetition or formatting errors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common words and phrases such as 'indispensable part', 'financial stability', and 'rejuvenate their mind'. However, there are notable inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and word formation, such as 'workers can relief their stress', 'strngthen their bonding', 'make happiness', and 'heatlh'. These lexical errors and awkward collocations occasionally create strain, though communication is generally maintained. To achieve a higher band, the writer must expand their vocabulary range and demonstrate greater precision and accuracy in word choice, spelling, and collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The essay employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt to use varied structures such as subordinate clauses and conditional constructions. However, there are some noticeable errors in grammar and punctuation, including missing articles, faulty verb forms ('workers should work shorter', 'they work hardly'), and intrusive commas that disrupt sentence boundaries. Despite these errors, they rarely impede overall communication, allowing the reader to follow the main arguments. For progression, the writer should focus on increasing control over complex sentence patterns and ensuring greater accuracy in grammatical agreements and punctuation.

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

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