Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-08-24

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)

In today's contemporary society, doing something for living is vital. It is though that work as the most crucial thing in life, instead of spending time in other waste thing. While some individuals argue that not only work is vital for living, human's also require to gives some time for hobbies and leisure. In this essay I will discuss these both perspectives, before presenting my own opinion.

On the one hand, the increasing number of people think that work is the most vital thing in life, if you want to be successful in your life, either if you enjoy the work or not. They believe that working is the only key of success, and they doing full-time as well as part-time jobs in multiple departments, so the only reason behind this struggle is that to collect more money.

On the other hand, many people are more enthusiastic about their hobbies and leisure instead of doing jobs. They argue that doing job, day and night is not gives you more money if you don't doing the right jobs, which pay you the best. But you only require to do maximum 8 to 10 hours of work, and then enjoy the rest of time with your families, friends, colleges, and with a professional people where you can learn more new things. In addition, hobbies is the part of our life, bring at least 2 to 3 hours for game, such as badminton, cricket, football, and many more.

In my opinion, I personally contain a diverse mindset, I believe that a person require to do their work about 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week and the rest of time they need to distribute equally on their sleeping and their other activities like hobbies, leisure, build relation, talking with friends, enjoying the nature and so on. It is the nature of human that they were boring when he / she doing work many hours, so the body they have is also the special right on them, to do something that is best for his body, for example, doing exercise, going to green area in the morning to refresh your mind, and playing games to maintain the health of their body.

In conclusion, everything brings importance in the world, fiving time only for work and ignoring the rest of activities is not a good idea. But maintain the same levels of these things to gives about equal time for each activities like doing 8 hours job, than enjoying the rest of 8 hours with your families and friends, the rest of 8 hours for sleeping.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The essay addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both attitudes and providing a clear personal opinion. The ideas are relevant, such as the focus on financial success versus the importance of work-life balance. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat repetitive and lacks depth. For instance, the argument for hobbies is limited to listing sports and suggesting a specific time allocation. To reach a higher band, you should provide more nuanced reasoning or real-world examples to support your claims rather than relying on general statements about time management.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. You use basic cohesive devices like 'On the one hand' and 'In conclusion' to signal shifts in the argument. However, the flow between sentences is sometimes mechanical, and the use of cohesive devices is repetitive. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as in the phrase 'everything brings importance in the world', which lacks a strong connection to the preceding argument. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring smoother transitions between sentences would enhance the overall coherence.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. You rely on simple terms like 'vital', 'important', and 'doing jobs' repeatedly. There are also some awkward collocations and word choices, such as 'waste thing' instead of 'waste of time' and 'contain a diverse mindset' when you likely meant 'a balanced perspective'. While the meaning is generally clear, the range of vocabulary is limited, and there is little evidence of less common or idiomatic language that would demonstrate a higher level of lexical control.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors throughout. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('hobbies is the part', 'human's also require'), incorrect verb forms ('is not gives you', 'if you don't doing'), and awkward phrasing ('they were boring when he / she doing work'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to distract the reader. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence construction and ensuring consistent verb tense usage.

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

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