Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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)

There is a widespread debate about whether a working week should be short or long. From my perspective, it should depend on the type of work. For instance, people who are working on a monthly wages may get benefit from short working weeks while people earning on daily wages may face financial issues. If we elaborate it, then the employees working in corporate sector may get their total monthly salary irrespective of work days while drivers and people working in cafes may face problems.

On the other hand, employees agree with the short working days and long weekends, because they might find more time to spent with families. They can feel relaxed and enjoy few time to recover from the stressed and buzy work week. Long weekends help them to plan short trips to escape from the workload days and get refreshed. Consequently, it may be beneficial for environment also, since it reduces the weekly used rate of transportation. Because, people usually use transport vehicles to reach offices which cause air pollution. Less working days may reduce air pollution.

On the other hand, drivers and cafe may face problems due to short working weeks. Because most of them get customers from working employees. Similarly, business owners disagree with long weekends since long holidays affect their work by missing deadlines. They may face loss in business.

In conclusion, Long weekends benefit the employees and make owners face problems. Cosequently, short working days may leave positive effect on environment but affect some other workers like drivers and cafes. This can be balanced by granting a fixed holidays in an office calender.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address the question by considering benefits and drawbacks of shorter working weeks, including employee wellbeing, transport pollution, and effects on drivers, cafés, and business owners. Your conclusion recognises both positive and negative consequences. However, the task asks whether you agree or disagree, and your opening says the answer “should depend on the type of work,” so your overall position is conditional rather than clearly argued. Some points are relevant but not fully developed: for example, the claim that business owners may miss deadlines needs an explanation of how longer weekends would cause this. State your position directly and support the main reasons with clearer examples or explanation.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion, and the ideas are generally relevant to the topic. However, progression is weakened by repeated and sometimes confusing transitions. “On the other hand” begins two paragraphs, although the second introduces another drawback rather than a clear contrast, and “Because” is used to start sentences in ways that interrupt the flow. The relationship between the opening discussion of pay arrangements and the later argument about weekends could also be made clearer. Group related benefits and drawbacks into distinct paragraphs, use transitions that accurately signal the relationship between ideas, and make references such as “they” unambiguous.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a range of topic-related vocabulary, including “monthly salary,” “air pollution,” “workload,” and “deadlines,” which helps communicate the main ideas. There are also attempts at less common expressions, such as “widespread debate” and “beneficial for environment,” but several word choices and collocations are inaccurate or unnatural. Examples include “short working days” where you mean a shorter working week, “few time,” and “weekly used rate of transportation.” Spelling slips such as “buzy” and “Cosequently” also reduce accuracy. Aim for natural, precise collocations and check spelling; for instance, describe reduced commuting or fewer journeys rather than an unclear “used rate” of transport.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including conditional structures such as “If we elaborate it, then…” and a clause beginning “since it reduces…”. The main meaning is usually understandable, but some grammatical errors occur across the response. For example, “people who are working on a monthly wages” has an incorrect article and plural pattern, while “people working in cafes may face problems” later becomes “drivers and cafe may face problems,” with a number-agreement issue. “More time to spent” also uses the wrong verb form, and punctuation after “Because” creates sentence-boundary problems. Review articles, singular and plural agreement, infinitive forms, and sentence boundaries, while continuing to practise varied sentence structures.

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

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