Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-18

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 most important thing in there life is their job or business while some people think that hobbies and the activity of their personal intrest is more important their jobs or businesses.

First of all, if a person think that thier work is the important than other aspects of their life, then they spend most of their time in life while working, and they might loose relations or other things like a fun time with his faimly. they spend all the days while working, they donot care about their physical or mental health although they collect a lot of wealth and become sucessfull, but they lost the close one because they donot gave them proper time, in my opinion eventough these type of people are very sucessfull but they are still the lossers because there is no one close to them and it is the biggest disadvantage of this kind of obesssion with the work.

On the other hand, the people which are more intrested in personal intrest lives a happier life than the other ones because they spend their time while doing the things they like the most for instance, like reading the books, gardening or playing games or to spend time with thier close ones. they remian healthy because of no work load and they also work on thier personal mental and physical healh. even though they might be not that rich than the work obessesive person but they still live an happy life.

in conclusion, these both people lives totally different life but in my opinion the best one is the person who live his life according to his intrest because he can develop a lot of great usefull skill in his life and become a better person and he also establish good realtionship with his faimly and friends

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both attitudes towards work and leisure, and provides a clear personal opinion that leisure-oriented lifestyles are preferable. The ideas are relevant and explored across body paragraphs, such as the social consequences of workaholism and the health benefits of hobbies. However, the development of ideas tends to be somewhat repetitive and lacks deeper, more specific real-world examples or academic backing. For instance, the discussion on work obsession reiterates the idea of losing relationships without introducing varied supporting evidence. While the main prompt requirements are covered, the extension of ideas remains fairly basic. Therefore, this performance fits the Band 6 descriptor well, as it addresses all parts of the task with relevant ideas, though some aspects are under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, two body paragraphs exploring opposing views, and a concluding paragraph. However, the progression of ideas is hindered by a lack of sophisticated cohesive devices and mechanical phrasing, such as 'First of all,' 'On the other hand,' and 'in conclusion.' Paragraphing is used to separate the distinct viewpoints, but internal cohesion within paragraphs feels repetitive and sometimes clunky due to run-on sentences. For example, the second paragraph links multiple independent clauses with commas and conjunctions rather than precise subordinating structures. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as 'these both people lives totally different life.' These issues reflect the characteristics of Band 5, where organisation is present, but cohesive devices are repetitive, inaccurate, or over-used, leaning slightly towards Band 6 due to the clear four-paragraph structure.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating everyday concepts related to careers, hobbies, and personal health. Words such as 'obsession,' 'gardening,' and 'relationships' show a functional ability to address the topic. However, there are numerous lexical and spelling errors throughout the text, including 'intrest' instead of interest, 'loose' instead of lose, 'sucessfull,' 'lossers,' 'obessesive,' 'remian,' and 'faimly.' Attempts at less common vocabulary are limited and frequently marred by spelling or collocation inaccuracies. While communication is generally maintained despite these errors, the density of incorrect word forms and basic spelling mistakes prevents the response from reaching a higher band. This performance aligns with Band 5, as the lexical range is minimally adequate, but noticeable errors cause some distraction for the reader.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing conditional structures like 'if a person think that thier work is the important...' and concessive clauses with 'even though.' However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors in subject-verb agreement, verb tenses, and article usage. Examples include 'Some people think most important thing in there life,' 'if a person think,' 'they donot gave them proper time,' and 'the people which are more intrested.' Punctuation is also problematic, notably the lack of proper capitalization at the beginning of sentences ('in conclusion,') and excessive use of run-on comma splices. Because errors are frequent and pervasive across simple and complex structures alike, causing noticeable difficulty for the reader, this response firmly corresponds to Band 5.

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