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 today's world, some people regard work as the most important thing in life and have little interest in anything else, while others are more enthusiastic about their hobbies and leisure interests than their jobs. In my opinion, work is an important thing in life, but it is not the only important thing.

On the one hand, some individuals believe work as an important thing because they think it helps in providing financial stability. Work helps in generating wealth that provides financial security, which is needed during emergencies. Thus, work is considered as an important thing. Additionally, people believe that work encourage them in getting promotion. If an employee work in effective way, they are more likely to get a promotion in near future. Thus, this allows people to consider work as the most important thing.

On the other hand, others are enthusiastic about their hobbies and leisure interests than their jobs, as hobbies help them to overcome stress in their lives. If a person give some amount of time to pursue their hobby, they may overcome the stress they experienced during working hours. Moreover, leisure allows them to build social relationships with other people such as friends, family and so on. If they do conversations with others during their free time, they can strengten the relationships with other people.

In conclusion, some people consider work as the most important thing because it provides financial security and helps in getting a promotion. However, other people are more lean towards their hobbies and leisure than their jobs because it helps to overcome the stress and encourages them to build a strong social relationship. I believe that the work can be considered as an important thing, but it is not the only or most important thing as there are other things like hobbies and leisure which are equally important.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both attitudes and state a clear opinion: work matters, but it is not the only important part of life. The two body paragraphs give relevant reasons, including financial security and promotion for prioritising work, and stress relief and relationships for valuing leisure. This covers the task, but the ideas are not developed equally or in much depth. For example, the promotion point is asserted without explaining why career advancement might make work central to someone’s life, and the leisure paragraph would benefit from a specific example showing how a hobby supports wellbeing or relationships. To strengthen the response, explain the consequences of each reason and connect your own view more directly to the discussion.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two attitudes, and a conclusion that restates your position. Signposting such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” and “In conclusion” helps readers follow the discussion. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes mechanical, particularly the repeated “Thus” after explanations. Some links between ideas are also unclear: “If they do conversations with others” does not smoothly express how leisure strengthens relationships. Use a wider range of natural transitions and make each sentence build on the previous one. Clearer referencing and more varied paragraph development would make the organisation feel more fluent.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “financial stability,” “financial security,” “promotion,” “overcome stress,” and “social relationships.” The meaning is generally clear, but several word choices and collocations are unnatural or repetitive, which limits precision. For instance, “work helps in generating wealth” and “do conversations” are not idiomatic in this context, while “important thing” is repeated frequently. There is also a spelling error in “strengten.” Aim to use more precise expressions and check common word partnerships; this will help you express familiar ideas more naturally and flexibly.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple statements and complex sentences, including conditional forms such as “If an employee work in effective way, they are more likely to get a promotion.” The overall meaning remains understandable, but some errors in agreement, articles, and sentence construction reduce accuracy. For example, “people believe that work encourage them” should have a singular verb, and “If a person give” also needs subject–verb agreement. In “If an employee work in effective way,” the verb form and article are also inaccurate. Practise checking the subject and verb in each clause, and review article use. More accurate complex sentences would strengthen the range already attempted.

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