Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-09-28

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 this fast paced world, some people are of the opinion that work is the most crucial thing in life, while other believe that their enthusiasum in hobbies and leisure interest is better than job. According to my prespective, both have their own importance but mental wellbeing is of top most priority.

However, there is no doubt that job provides a sense of security and finacial stability. For instance, people who have a proper job will feel secure and will be able to feed their family. They will only worry about their family without fulfilling their own desires. They will not be able to live their lives fully and will feel empty deep inside.

Consequently, people who agree to spend their lives according to their own will, develop a sense of safisfaction and peace. They become more independent and try to live a life of their dreams by doing those stuff that workaholics do not do. They prefer their hobbies and leisure interest more than their jobs. For example, they spare some time out of their routine for themselve to do do the tasks that they love, which keeps them mentally healthy.

Taking everything into consideration, I am of the opinion, that life is incomplete if a persons own desires are not fulfilled and their mental health is not stable. Therefore, both job and other personal interest are equally important in a abalanced manner rather than just giving importance to job.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both viewpoints regarding work and hobbies, and presents a clear personal opinion favouring a balanced mental well-being approach. Ideas are generally relevant, such as financial security versus personal satisfaction and mental health. However, the development is somewhat limited and repetitive, particularly regarding the discussion of family and personal desires. Furthermore, the length requirement has not been met, as the text contains only 241 words, which is below the mandatory 250-word minimum. Consequently, this negative impact on task completion pulls the overall task response score down to a band 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay is divided into four paragraphs, reflecting a standard introduction, two body paragraphs representing the contrasting views and own opinion, and a conclusion. Ideas are generally organised logically with basic cohesive devices such as 'However' and 'Consequently'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes faulty or mechanical. For instance, the transition between sentences within the second paragraph feels abrupt ('They will only worry about their family without fulfilling their own desires'), and the pronoun referencing in the third paragraph becomes slightly confusing when referring to people and their hobbies. Paragraphing is adequate, but overall progression lacks sophisticated management, placing it firmly at a band 6.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common words and phrases such as 'financial stability', 'workaholics', and 'mental wellbeing'. However, there are notable spelling errors and lexical inaccuracies throughout the text, including 'fast paced' instead of 'fast-paced', 'enthusiasum' instead of 'enthusiasm', 'prespective' instead of 'perspective', 'finacial' instead of 'financial', 'safisfaction' instead of 'satisfaction', 'stuff' instead of 'things' or 'activities', and 'abalanced' instead of 'balanced'. These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they restrict the lexical score to a band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, such as conditional and subordinate clauses ('While other believe that...', 'For instance, people who have a proper job...'). However, there are frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, including subject-verb agreement issues ('other believe' instead of 'others believe', 'interest' instead of 'interests'), preposition misuse ('according to my prespective' instead of 'in my perspective'), and repetitive sentence openings. Punctuation is generally acceptable, but comma splices and minor structural awkwardness prevent the grammar from reaching higher bands. The frequency of errors places this response at a band 5.5.

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