Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-10-16

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 working week should be shorter and workers should have a longer weekend.In this essay, I will discuss positive and negative advantages. Overall, I agree with the statement that a shorter working week helps people to be more interested in work. However, a longer weekend makes people lazay in work.

The working week should be shorter because convenient working week hours help's people to develop more interest in work. it has a high chances to increaing a sell. Longer working hours impact human behaviour and mental health. While shorter working hours can help people focus more on sales productivity in a company. For example: Ali worked in an international organisation as a manager. He noticed people were more frustrated also he faced a loss in the company, so based on situation he decided to work a shorter week. A few days later, his strategy worked out the company sales increased.

On the other hand, Workers have a longer weekend, which makes individuals become lazy, which affects directly on the office where they worked. Less interested in work. Poor communication with colleagues; always want to go back home because they are not wanted to come out comfort zone so this thing is horrible for organizations or offices. it directly affects company sales in future, the company will face big losses.

In conclusion: I believe that the working week should be shorter for people. It helps to enhance productivity in sales. Although it can have a great impact on the well-being of individuals, they are more interested in work. In contrast, a two-day weekend is enough for people.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion6.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is identifiable: you agree that a shorter working week can improve interest and productivity, while arguing that longer weekends may encourage laziness. The example about Ali gives some support to the productivity point. However, the response only partially develops the task: the negative argument is asserted rather than explained or supported, and the conclusion introduces the idea that a two-day weekend is enough without clarifying how this relates to your proposed shorter working week. The opening also promises to discuss “positive and negative advantages,” which does not clearly establish the argument. Develop both sides with specific reasoning and make your position consistent throughout. The length requirement is met; 13 words copied from the task prompt were not counted.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall arrangement: an introduction, two body paragraphs presenting contrasting points, and a conclusion. Transitions such as “On the other hand” and “In conclusion” help signal these stages. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear. In the first body paragraph, the move from mental health to sales and then to Ali’s example needs clearer links. The second paragraph contains a series of fragments and loosely connected claims, including “Less interested in work” and “Poor communication with colleagues.” Some linking phrases are also mechanical or confusing, such as “so this thing is horrible.” Use complete, logically connected sentences and make each paragraph develop one main point in a clear sequence.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “mental health,” “productivity,” “frustrated,” and “communication with colleagues.” These choices show an attempt to discuss workplace effects, but the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, sometimes making the meaning less clear. For example, “positive and negative advantages” is contradictory, “increaing a sell” is not a natural expression, and “lazay in work” does not communicate the intended idea precisely. “A high chances” also shows difficulty selecting the correct form. Build a more precise set of phrases for working hours, employee motivation, and business performance, and check spelling and collocations before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a contrast with “While shorter working hours…” and a relative clause in “a longer weekend, which makes individuals become lazy.” However, complex structures are often faulty, and frequent errors sometimes make relationships between ideas difficult to follow. Examples include “convenient working week hours help's people,” the sentence beginning “While shorter working hours” (a dependent clause without a main clause), and “he decided to work a shorter week,” where the intended meaning is unclear. There are also problems with sentence boundaries and capitalisation, such as “week.In” and “it has.” Practise complete clauses, subject–verb agreement, verb forms, and punctuation, then proofread each sentence for a clear subject and main verb.

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