Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-24

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 5.0)

The debate over whether people should focus on their careers or enjoy their life in a free time is quite common today. While some people believe that working hard is most important part of life, others think that personal hobbies part of life, which brings more happiness. In my opinion, the best aproach is to maintain a healthy approach is to maintain a health balance between work and relaxation.

On the one hand, viewing work as the most important things in life often comes froim a desire for financial stability and success. For many people, having a stable job, thinks that career provides a good strong sense of life and the money needed to live comfortably live with family. Working hard allows professional gain respect, learn new skills, and support their families. However, focusing only on job has a clear disadvantages, working too much can lead high stress and tiredness, unhealthy life. Furthermore, people who ignore their friends, family and their hobbies for work, they often miss out on the enjoyable moments of life.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.0

You introduce both attitudes and state a clear preference for balance: “the best approach” is to balance work and relaxation. The paragraph on work also gives relevant reasons, including financial stability, professional respect and supporting family, then notes the costs of overwork. However, the response addresses the task only partially: it does not develop the attitude that hobbies and leisure matter more than jobs, and the stated opinion is not supported with a specific example or fuller explanation. The response is also 76 words below the required minimum, leaving too little space to discuss both sides adequately. Develop the leisure-focused view and explain how your preferred balance works in practice, using a relevant example.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction states the topic and your position, followed by a paragraph beginning “On the one hand” that develops reasons for prioritising work. This gives the reader a basic route through the argument. However, there is no corresponding paragraph on the other attitude or a conclusion, so the discussion does not progress to a complete comparison. Some links are also awkward or unclear, particularly “However, focusing only on job has a clear disadvantages, working too much…” where the contrast and the relationship between ideas are not cleanly signalled. Use separate paragraphs for each viewpoint, then a concluding paragraph, and connect claims to explanations with clear referencing and transitions.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use some relevant topic vocabulary, including “financial stability,” “professional,” “respect,” “stress,” and “hobbies,” which helps communicate the main ideas. There are also attempts at more specific phrasing, such as “a strong sense of life,” though this expression is unclear and does not convey a precise benefit of work. Noticeable spelling and word-choice errors include “aproach,” “froim,” “thinks,” and “tiredness,” while phrases such as “enjoy your life in a free time” and “a good strong sense of life” are not natural collocations. These issues sometimes make the reader work to interpret your meaning. Build a wider set of accurate expressions for work-life balance and leisure, and check spelling and collocation carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and more complex sentence forms, including a contrast introduced by “While” and a conditional structure in “people who ignore their friends… often miss out.” These attempts show some range, but control is inconsistent and errors can make parts difficult to follow. For example, “working too much can lead high stress” is missing a required preposition, and “focusing only on job has a clear disadvantages” has problems with articles and singular/plural agreement. The sentence beginning “For many people” also has an unclear structure, while the repeated wording in the introduction disrupts the sentence. Practise building complete clauses with accurate agreement and articles, and proofread each sentence for its grammatical structure.

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