Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-25

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)

People are mostly spending their time in work and they fail to enjoy their life however some individuals are only intrested in the leisure than working. This essay will discuss both the point of views with relavent examples in the following paragraphs.

To start with, the people who are workoholic they are only intrested in how they can improve them so they come first in the comepition for them everything is like a race. As a result their decision making abiblities are outstanding and they are more responsible as compared with other people. For example in the family the older one who are working in whatever field are usually making the decions rather than the younger one who is studying.

On the other hand, some people want to enjoy the life and they are exploring their hobbies or any kind of leisure they are interested in than working. This has certain benefits as they are more relaxed than other people. Their mental well being is also good and if they are into sports their physical health will be great when they get old resulting in longer life expectancy.

To conclude, both of the attitudes have certain advantages and disadvantages like the people who are engage in work are good in their company but their quality of life will not be good as compared with work. Meanwhile, the person who looks for the leisure in life will be more relaxed and composed but they might be not a good for family in terms of financial dependancy. I belive that people should spend their life in thier own ways but they should also enjoy the life, spend more time with their family and work accordinly.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

You address both attitudes: the first body paragraph describes people focused on work, while the second explains the benefits of hobbies and leisure. You also give a personal view in the conclusion, recommending a balance between work, family and enjoyment. However, the discussion is only partly developed. The example about older family members making decisions does not clearly show how work-centred people benefit, and the claim that leisure-focused people may not support their families financially is introduced without explanation. Your position also becomes clear mainly at the end. To strengthen the response, state your view in the introduction and develop each side with a more directly relevant example and clearer reasoning.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable structure, with an introduction, separate paragraphs for the two attitudes and a conclusion. Phrases such as “To start with,” “On the other hand” and “To conclude” help signal the stages of the discussion. The overall progression is understandable, but connections within paragraphs are sometimes loose: the example about older family members making decisions does not clearly follow from the point about work improving decision-making. Some sentences also combine several ideas without showing their relationship, particularly in the conclusion. Use clearer links between each claim and its explanation or example, and make references such as “the older one” and “other people” more precise so readers can follow the argument smoothly.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate the main ideas, including “leisure,” “mental well being,” “physical health” and “life expectancy.” There are also attempts at more specific expressions, such as “decision making abilities” and “financial dependency.” However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or awkward, which makes parts of the argument less clear. Examples include “improve them,” “come first in the competition” and “good for family.” Spelling errors such as “intrested,” “relavent” and “belive” are noticeable. Build a more accurate set of phrases for discussing work-life balance, and check spelling and collocations carefully during revision.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentence forms, including a contrastive opening and explanations introduced by “As a result” and “when.” However, the range is limited, and complex sentences are often not controlled accurately. For example, “the people who are workoholic they are only interested” has a faulty clause structure, while “the older one who are working” shows problems with agreement and number. Other errors include “the person who looks for the leisure … will be more relaxed” and “they might be not a good for family.” These patterns sometimes make the intended meaning harder to follow. Practise forming relative clauses, maintaining subject–verb agreement, and checking articles and sentence boundaries.

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.