Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Complete Catalyst · 2026-10-28

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)

the people who feel work is more important than anything in life are more determined towards there work and are most more career oriented. they are more successfull in life and are earning more than people who are less concerned towards there work. but somewhere in life they neglact there families and health for the sake of work. many people ignores family and function in life for sake of work and with time they lose them. in my life i have seen several of example of peoplw who are always at work but at some point theyt regret that they never gave importance to themselves and there family especially their children and time has passed.

while on the otherhand people who have very little interest in worl and are more intrested in there hobbies and liesure they can't great successfull in life. they are mostly all the time hand to mouth in there life and never realise the importance of work, money and success in life like people who always attend parties and function even not of closed ones they often lose jobs and regret latter on. i have seen many people regreting and giving example to younger ones in older ages that be presistence towards there work. and they always remain at same post.

according to my conclusion everything should be done according to its need either its hobby work or anything everything should be in a limmit so ifeel every person should be determined towards work and should keep time for their hobies leisure family and time a real successful person is that who manage all these things at a time.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You discuss both attitudes and give a clear personal view: the first body paragraph describes people who prioritise work, the second considers those who favour leisure, and your conclusion recommends balancing work, hobbies and family. The examples from your observations, such as workers who later regret neglecting their children and people who lose jobs after prioritising social events, are relevant. However, some claims are broad or insufficiently explained—for example, that work-focused people are “more successful” and leisure-focused people cannot achieve success. The discussion of the second attitude is also less developed than the first. Explain the reasons behind each attitude and qualify generalisations with more specific examples to make the argument more convincing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: two paragraphs discuss the contrasting attitudes, followed by a conclusion that states your balanced position. This makes the main line of argument understandable. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear, and several ideas are joined in long strings rather than developed in a logical sequence. For instance, the second paragraph moves from limited success to being “hand to mouth,” then to attending parties and losing jobs without clearly showing how these points connect. Linking phrases such as “while,” “but,” and “according to my conclusion” are used, but some sound mechanical or do not accurately signal the relationship between ideas. Use clearer topic sentences and divide complex points into shorter, logically connected sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use vocabulary relevant to the topic, including “career oriented,” “determined,” “regret,” “importance,” and “successful,” so your main ideas can generally be understood. There are also attempts to express more specific concepts, such as neglecting family and being “hand to mouth.” However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate or repetitive: “concerned towards their work,” “great successful,” and “remain at same post” do not sound natural in this context. Spelling errors such as “neglact,” “liesure,” and “presistence” also reduce clarity. Build a bank of accurate phrases for discussing priorities, career progress and work–life balance, and check spelling and collocations when editing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple statements and longer sentences with clauses, including “but somewhere in life they…” and “so I feel every person should…”. This shows some variety, and the overall meaning is usually recoverable. However, sentence control is inconsistent, particularly in longer constructions. For example, “many people ignores family” has a subject–verb agreement error, while “they can't great successful in life” does not form a grammatical clause. Articles, plurals and possessives are also often missing or inconsistent, as in “at same post” and “there family.” Capitalisation and punctuation are limited, making sentence boundaries difficult to follow. Practise accurate basic sentence patterns first, then use subordinate clauses and conjunctions while checking agreement, articles and punctuation.

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