Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-08-20

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)

Some people think, work is the most important thing in our life and we should have little interest in other things, while other people are more serious about their hobbies than their jobs. I will discuss both perspectives and give my relevant opinion in the further paragraphs.

On the one hand, some people give more important to work than other things, because they think if we do focus only on our work than other activities so, we can complete our work in limited time. People want achieve their goal but they do not achieve because of their focus on other things which is distract them. For example, children do not achieve good marks in their exam because of they spent their time in other activities and after they fail in exam. But if they focus only on their study so they can achieve good marks in exam.

On the other hand, Some people believe that we should do focus only on our hobbies rather than our jobs because of if we spend our full time on jobs so we have not time for our hobbies and dreams. Sometimes, people focus only on their jobs and want to earning more money after that, they do not think about their passion and hobbies. After that, time will pass and they can not do for their hobbies and dreams. For example, one person who do job in the company and he has a dream for become a good dancer. But he can not spend their time on dance because of his job and after time will pass and he will not achieve their dream.

In my opinion, people should focus on both perspectives like, hobbies and work because if we focus only on one thing than we will not achieve other thing.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both perspectives and provides a personal opinion, meeting the basic requirements of the prompt. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For instance, the argument regarding work focus relies on a simplistic example about children's exam marks, which is not entirely relevant to the professional context of the prompt. The opinion in the conclusion is brief and lacks depth. To improve, you should provide more sophisticated reasoning and concrete, real-world examples that directly relate to the tension between professional life and personal leisure, rather than relying on generalisations.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organised into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical and sometimes inaccurate. Phrases like 'After that' and 'because of if' are used repetitively and do not always create logical transitions between sentences. The referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the second paragraph where the connection between the general argument and the specific example is weak. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring they are used in the correct context would significantly enhance the flow of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. You rely on basic terms like 'good marks', 'do job', and 'do not achieve'. There are also issues with word choice and collocation, such as 'give more important to work' (should be 'importance') and 'want to earning' (should be 'want to earn'). To achieve a higher score, you should aim to use more academic collocations and precise terminology related to work-life balance, such as 'professional obligations', 'personal fulfilment', or 'recreational pursuits'.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('one person who do job'), incorrect preposition usage, and awkward phrasing ('because of if we spend'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma usage. While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of these errors prevents the writing from reaching a higher band. Focusing on sentence construction and proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy will be essential for your progress.

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

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