Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-08-30

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)

Working is regarded by some individual as the most significant in their lives than anything else. Other concerned that having hobbies and leisure interests is better than their careers. Although both perspectives have merit, I strongly agree that having hobbies and leisure interests are way more crucial to enjoy what activities that people fond of and it is wonderful to experience lots of hobbies in life in order to have a memorable moment and make people spend more time with family or friend, while working many hours in a day sitting in front of computer's screen typing on keyboard that can lead to health problem and less of sleep.

On the one hand, having a hobbies are such a wonderful things in order to assist adolescent or adult to spend more time to focus on their life habit. For instance, many individuals figured it out their habit which make them to stop putting much pressures on their self and spend their daily routine in a day to do their hobbies such as painting, swimming, travelling, or read books, all these is an activities that assist an adolescent or adult in order to have a memorable moments in life.

On the other hand, working is not always terrible at all, however when people admitted that ones of their favorite hobbies are enjoy working everyday in life is impossible. Due to the fact that working many hours in a day is not healthy to spend time sitting on a chair and typing on their computer that took lots of time just to finished and continued every single time without make their self sometime to relax is one of a major problem. For example, imagine if many people just want money and considered that their most favorite hobbies is working are not wrong but it could lead to problematic in the future.

To conclude, working is significant in life. However, it is way more better when individuals considered the right hobbies in their habit likes enjoy more time with other people, chill and relaxing in order to make the individuals cut off their stressful time on working just to have money.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses both perspectives and provides a clear personal opinion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat repetitive and lacks depth. For example, the argument regarding the health risks of working is mentioned in the introduction, the body paragraph, and the conclusion without adding new insights or evidence. The ideas are relevant, but the support is often vague, such as the list of hobbies like 'swimming' or 'reading' without explaining how these specifically contribute to a better life balance. To improve, you should focus on expanding your arguments with more specific examples or logical reasoning rather than restating the same points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, and there is a logical progression from the introduction to the conclusion. You use some cohesive devices like 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand' to signal shifts in perspective. However, the use of cohesive devices is sometimes mechanical or inaccurate, such as 'all these is an activities' or 'due to the fact that working... is not healthy... is one of a major problem.' The referencing is occasionally unclear, which makes some sentences difficult to follow. Improving the variety and accuracy of your linking words will help the flow of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it is limited and often repetitive. You frequently use basic terms like 'wonderful,' 'things,' and 'activities.' There are also issues with word choice and collocation, such as 'figured it out their habit' instead of 'identified their interests' and 'cut off their stressful time' instead of 'alleviate work-related stress.' While the meaning is generally clear, the lack of precision and the reliance on simple vocabulary prevent the essay from reaching a higher band. You should aim to use more academic collocations and precise terminology related to work-life balance.

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 ('having a hobbies are,' 'all these is an activities'), article usage, and awkward phrasing ('way more better,' 'make their self sometime'). These errors are noticeable and occasionally force the reader to re-read sentences to understand the intended meaning. While you attempt complex structures, they are often faulty. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence construction and proofreading for common errors like pluralization and verb tense consistency.

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

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