Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 19 · 2026-08-31

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

It is sometimes possible to pay somebody to do things you don't want to do, or don't have time to do, for example, household chores or looking after children.

Is this a good way of providing work for others?

Should people do these things themselves?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

It is observed that individuals invest more time on work and self care instead of doing household work or doing childcare. Therefore, they tend to hire people for doing these duties. However, from my perspective it is crucial to make a balance between home and work. Thus, hiring people is a solution to some problem while not everything can change with it.

Firstly, hiring people to do daily life chores has been crucial in todays time. For example, due to busy schedules and to complete the deadline has resulted in less leisure time such less free time equals to reduce hours at home to focus on cleaning stuff. Hence, it results in hiring people to do daily life chores like cleaning, cooking, and many more.

Furthermore, child care is important for the people where both the parents are working and had to travel a lot to reach home. This is the possible cause of hiring early childhood educators or nannies for the extra care of kids. As a consequence of this, work-life balance is crucial for taking care of their children instead of hiring someone for looking after children.

On the contrary, it is sometimes difficult to arrange time for the household work and extra help can improve the conditions of house and will help the individuals earn for their livelihood. Hence, it will help in job creation to provide the job to unemployed individuals.

To conclude, getting extra help for household chore is essential in the current scenario, however, it is important for the parents to look after their children by themselves instead of hiring a nanny or a childhood educator.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both parts of the prompt: the benefits of job creation and the personal responsibility of childcare. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention that hiring help creates jobs, this point is not fully expanded with specific examples or deeper analysis. Similarly, the argument regarding childcare is slightly contradictory; you acknowledge the need for nannies due to busy schedules but then conclude that parents should do it themselves without fully exploring the nuance of this dilemma. To reach a higher band, ensure each main idea is supported by a clear, logical explanation or a concrete example.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'Firstly', 'Furthermore', and 'On the contrary' to signal transitions. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and some transitions feel slightly forced or repetitive. For instance, the use of 'Hence' and 'Thus' appears frequently, which can make the writing feel a bit formulaic. To improve, try to vary your linking words and ensure that the relationship between sentences is more fluid and natural rather than relying on standard signposting.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing you to convey your meaning clearly. You use some topic-specific terms like 'childcare', 'nannies', and 'early childhood educators'. However, the range is somewhat limited, and there are instances of imprecise word choice, such as 'cleaning stuff' or 'improve the conditions of house'. These phrases are informal and lack the precision expected at higher levels. To improve, focus on using more academic collocations and precise terminology to express your ideas more professionally.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors, such as 'due to busy schedules and to complete the deadline has resulted in' (subject-verb agreement and structure issues) and 'provide the job to unemployed individuals' (article usage). There are also minor punctuation and phrasing issues throughout. To improve, focus on ensuring that your complex sentences are grammatically sound and pay closer attention to subject-verb agreement and the correct use of articles.

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

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