Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-08-10

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people regard work as the most important thing in life and have little interest in anything else. Other people are more enthusiastic about their hobbies and leisure interests than their jobs.

Discuss both these attitudes and give your own opinion.

You should use your own ideas, knowledge and experience and support your arguments with examples and relevant evidence.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Work, leisure interests and hobbies are very significant in ones life. Balancing all life essentials make life experience easy.

From my experience ,life is all about choices and making good life choices cannot be over emphasized.

Indeed, some people regard work as the most important thing in life and may have little or no interest in anything else. This may depend on the type of work and how career oriented a person can be. Take for instance a career oriented woman who has a family may opt to devote her time at work as this is what brings food on the table for the family. Hobbies ,leisure interests may not matter at all because she is devoted to paying bills for the family. However, this has a great impact on ones health as it can predispose to emotional breakdown and mental instability resulting from stress.

On the other hand, some people are more keen about hobbies and leisure interest than their jobs, as the saying goes "All work, no play makes John a dam boy". This reminds the people in society that leisure and hobbies are vital for the mind and ones wellbeing as it provides mind refreshment and relaxation. The brain and mind needs time to reset, re-organize and refresh the memory and by doing so, stress is relieved there by reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

In conclusion, there is need to balance lifestyle in order to overcome life challenges. Work is important and so is leisure and making healthy choices leads to a better life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a clear personal opinion in the conclusion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat superficial. For example, the explanation of why a career-oriented person might neglect hobbies is limited to a single example of a woman supporting her family, which is a bit narrow. The discussion on the benefits of leisure is also quite generic. To reach a higher band, you should expand on your points with more detailed reasoning or broader societal implications. The position is consistent, but the arguments could be more thoroughly extended to demonstrate a deeper engagement with the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each focusing on a specific aspect of the prompt. There is a clear introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'Indeed', 'However', and 'On the other hand', which help guide the reader through the argument. However, some transitions feel a bit mechanical, and the referencing could be smoother. For instance, the link between the two body paragraphs could be more sophisticated to show a stronger contrast. Overall, the progression of ideas is coherent, and the paragraphing is appropriate for the task.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, using terms like 'career oriented', 'predispose', and 'cardiovascular diseases'. However, there are some inaccuracies and awkward phrasings, such as 'making good life choices cannot be over emphasized' and 'dam boy' (which appears to be a misspelling of 'dull boy'). The vocabulary is generally functional but lacks the precision and sophistication required for higher bands. To improve, focus on using more precise collocations and avoiding repetitive phrasing. The range is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, but it does not show a high level of flexibility.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors, such as 'in ones life' (should be 'one's'), 'the brain and mind needs' (subject-verb agreement error: 'need'), and punctuation issues like missing spaces after commas. These errors occur frequently enough to be noticeable but do not significantly impede communication. To achieve a higher score, you need to increase the frequency of error-free sentences and ensure better control over complex structures, particularly regarding articles and possessive apostrophes.

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

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