Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-11-09

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

It is important for children, young adults, working people and the retired to have at least one hobby.

What's your opinion about this?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.5)

In this contemporary society, having a hobby has become a topic of considerable debate. This essay will address the importance of having a hobby in detail before giving my opinion.

To begin with, regarding the question of having a hobby, it is evident that a person who has a hobby is more lively, and have a productive day compared to those who don't have one. This is because having a hobby will make you feel more active and it may let you create a small business out of it. For example, if you own a hobby of making paintings, in the future, you may own a small business and sell them online or display them in art galleries. This hobby can make you a future artist. Additionally, if you do planting as a hobby, it will keep you busy if you are retired. It will never let you get bored because after all you will have a productive day by spending time with the nature. Anyways, if you have any sort of hobby, it will benefit you someday. People around you or your friends can get motivated and start a similar or some other kind of hobby. For instance, if you read storybooks as a hobby or newspaper, your children see you everyday doing the same ritual, this will make them do so in the future as well. Even if, you are a working person, you should have a hobby to have an escape from the stressful day.

Well, in my perspective, having a hobby will not only make you successful but also you are setting an example for the younger generation around you to do so in the future. However, it must be a good hobby that give benefits to them as well as to the society. For instance, if a father drinks alcohol and his son sees him drinking everyday, he will think its good and try to follow him, so it is important to have certain hobbies that also influence people around you and they can also get benefit from it, if they follow you in the future.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

Your position is clear: you support people having a hobby, and you give relevant reasons, including staying active, developing a business, avoiding boredom in retirement, and influencing children. The examples about painting and reading help illustrate these points, so the response addresses the task. However, some ideas are developed more fully than others. The painting example explains a possible benefit, while the claim that hobbies make people “successful” is not supported in the same detail. The final example about a father drinking alcohol shifts from hobbies to behaviour more generally and does not clearly explain what counts as a beneficial hobby. Develop this point with a directly relevant example and explain more precisely how hobbies benefit people at different life stages.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response has an overall structure, moving from reasons in the main paragraph to your personal view in the final paragraph. Examples generally follow the claims they support, which helps the reader follow your argument. However, the first body paragraph contains many separate points—business, retirement, motivating others, reading, and work stress—without clear grouping, so progression becomes difficult to track. Some linking phrases also feel mechanical or imprecise: “Anyways” interrupts the formal argument, and “Even if” does not correctly introduce the point about working people. The conclusion-like paragraph repeats the idea of setting an example rather than clearly summarising the main reasons. Use clearer paragraphing to group related benefits and choose transitions that show the exact relationship between ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of vocabulary for the topic, including “considerable debate,” “productive,” “motivated,” and “influence,” and the meaning is generally clear. There are also attempts to express ideas in different ways, such as describing hobbies as an “escape” from a stressful day. However, several word choices and collocations are unnatural or imprecise, including “own a hobby,” “do planting,” and “spending time with the nature.” Informal “Anyways” is also unsuitable for this essay’s tone, while repeated use of “hobby” and “benefit” limits variety. Aim for more natural combinations and precise phrasing, such as “take up painting,” “gardening,” and “spend time in nature.” This would make your vocabulary more fluent and appropriate to the task.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including conditional forms such as “if you own a hobby of making paintings” and a longer sentence explaining how children may imitate a parent. This gives the response some structural variety, and most errors do not prevent understanding. However, some agreement and sentence-construction errors remain: “a person … is more lively, and have a productive day” should keep the verbs consistent, and “a good hobby that give benefits” needs subject–verb agreement. There are also problems with clause structure and punctuation in “Even if, you are a working person,” and “Even if” is not followed by a contrasting clause. Review agreement, conditional clauses, and comma placement, and break up some long sentences to improve control.

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