Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-15

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)

Many people believe that the working days in a week can be reduce and the period of the weekend must be increase for workers. While I am not agree with this statement and discuss both sides in this discussion.

In one hand, many people want to short the working days in a week for taking more rest for the working individuals. It badly affect on worker physical and mental health. For example, a person just doing their job in hot stove area for 5 days and his human body not bear harsh working conditions for complete working day. That type of worker drastically lose their health. Despite of more weekend holidays, government must look after basic rights and must provide better financial and medical facilities to them.

On the other hand, two holidays in a week are appropriate for the rest of all types of workers. If government change the rules and increase the weekend holidays, It strongly affect on the economy of the country. For example, five working days per week are balanced with the many companies targets and the revenue of these companies might bear losses. Therefore, the tax return ratio also low with this sense. If government increase the holidays it also reduce the income of the workers. From my point of view, the current method of weekend holidays are essential for all worker due to medical, financial and other issues arise quietly.

In conclusion, the working days are not be change and government just trying to change the rest period for those worker whose working in harsh conditions.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address the question by presenting reasons both for shorter working weeks and for keeping the current arrangement, and your conclusion indicates that you oppose a general change. The examples about physically demanding work and company revenue are relevant. However, the position is not consistently clear: the opening says you will “discuss both sides,” while the conclusion suggests changing rest periods for workers in harsh conditions, which partly qualifies your opposition. Several points are asserted rather than explained—for example, the link between more holidays, company losses and lower tax revenue needs clearer reasoning. Develop your main position more fully and explain how your examples support it.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, two body paragraphs presenting contrasting considerations, and a conclusion. Signposting such as “On the other hand,” “For example,” and “In conclusion” helps readers follow the broad direction. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to track: the first body paragraph moves from rest and health to government support without clearly connecting these ideas, while the second shifts from company revenue to workers’ income. Some linking phrases are inaccurate or mechanical, and the conclusion introduces a qualification that has not been fully developed. Organise each paragraph around one central claim, then explain and illustrate it in a clear sequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some task-relevant vocabulary, including “physical and mental health,” “harsh working conditions,” “economy,” and “revenue.” These choices show an attempt to discuss both worker welfare and economic effects. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are noticeably inaccurate, sometimes making the intended meaning unclear. Examples include “short the working days,” “tax return ratio,” and “medical facilities to them.” Repetition of “working,” “weekend,” and “holidays” also limits flexibility. Build a more precise set of expressions for employment and economic consequences, and check whether words naturally combine in English before using them.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including conditional structures such as “If government change the rules…” and a relative clause in “those worker whose working in harsh conditions.” However, errors are frequent and sometimes make relationships between ideas difficult to understand. For instance, “the working days… can be reduce” has an incorrect verb form, “It badly affect” lacks subject–verb agreement, and “I am not agree” uses the wrong verb construction. Articles, plurals and sentence boundaries also need attention. Practise forming accurate present-tense statements and conditionals, and proofread each sentence for a clear subject, correctly formed verb and complete clause.

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

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