Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-07

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 society individual hold contrasting view wether work should be regarded as most important thing in life or not or it should be more about healthy and leisure activities.While some argue that carrier should be our first priority other believe that recreational activities are far better. I am going to discuss it further in the upcoming topics.

First of all i will talk about some people who think work is most important thing in life. They just do work everytime they do not do any other activities in their free time. They think work is important for success and money how much you work hard you get rewarded more.For these individual work is merely a mean to end but a primary source of purpose.They found happiness in the work.

On the other hand giving value to leisure activities gives you happiness joy. These are the people who thinks that work is not the most important thing , they do many physical activities in their time. They also do jobs work in the time when needed but also on the same time they spare time for their families to enjoy and eat and do some workout to keep them fit and healthy.

In conclusion both of these topics have valid foundation and things to discuss. They are both logical know what they mean and what they are doing.

In my opinion i think the second people are at right spot. I know work is important also but our first priority should be or health. By just doing work everytime we cant eat or do exercise. Our time is important for our family too our children and families need us for their emotional support and by doing work everytime we cant spare time for them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both attitudes: the first body paragraph describes people who prioritise work for success, income and purpose, while the next presents leisure, exercise and family time. Your own preference is also stated clearly near the end: you favour people who make room for health and family. However, the discussion is only partially developed. The work-focused view is reduced mainly to working hard for rewards, and the leisure-focused view is described rather than explored; neither is supported with a specific example or evidence. The introduction promises to discuss the topic but does not establish your position, and the conclusion is vague before your opinion appears in a separate final paragraph. Develop the reasons behind each attitude and make your position clear from the outset.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has recognisable paragraphs for the introduction, each attitude, a conclusion and your opinion, so the reader can identify the main sections. Transitions such as “First of all” and “On the other hand” help signal the contrast. However, progression is uneven: the conclusion says both views are logical, then a separate paragraph gives your opinion, making the ending feel divided. Some links are mechanical, and references such as “these topics” and “the second people” are not precise. Within paragraphs, ideas are often placed beside one another without showing how they connect—for example, the discussion of leisure moves from happiness to exercise and family time. Group related points and use clearer references and transitions to create a more continuous argument.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “first priority,” “recreational activities,” “purpose,” “emotional support” and “physical activities.” This gives you enough language to communicate the basic contrast between work and leisure. However, the range is limited and several choices or forms are inaccurate or unnatural, which sometimes makes the meaning less clear. Examples include “carrier” for a job or career, “a mean to end,” “giving value to leisure activities,” and “at right spot.” The repeated use of “work,” “important” and “activities” also limits precision. Build a wider set of accurate collocations for discussing employment, wellbeing and work-life balance, and check spelling and word forms before submitting.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentence forms, including a contrast introduced by “While” and a reason introduced by “By just doing work…”. However, control is inconsistent, and errors in sentence structure, agreement, articles, punctuation and verb forms occur frequently enough to make some sentences difficult to follow. For example, “individual hold contrasting view” has agreement and article problems, while “They think work is important for success and money how much you work hard you get rewarded more” joins ideas without a clear grammatical link. Capitalisation of “I” and sentence boundaries are also inconsistent. Practise building accurate sentences with one main idea and a clear subordinate clause, then check subject–verb agreement, articles and punctuation.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.