Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-18

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 6.5)

All age groups should have at least one hobby to create a meaningful purpose for their life journey. In my view, it is essential to have a enjoyable activity in lesiure time. In this essay, I will discuss how different categorized groups utilized the benefits of having a hobby.

For children, it is very important to have a hobby such as reading, writing, swimming and any other for their growth and development. For instance, reading helps them to improve vocabulary, concentration and create imagination. It is particularly essential for younger generation to learn skills which will help them in future to find jobs. Nowadays, getting higher paying jobs require multitasking employees who enhance the Company's growth. Therefore, children and young people should have a hobby in their free time for their development and career growth.

Nowadays, working people are under stress because of working long hours, maintaining work-life balance and carrying huge burden of responsibilities. If they invest free time in an activity such as swimming and any other sport activity, they are more likely to return to work refreshed and focused. Similiarly, retired people have usually enough time as they can spend time on something which can get rid of their loneliness. For example, senior citizen likes to take part in group activities such as walking with friends, bringing a pet, gardening to spend time with family and playing cards to utilize the right use of sedentary lifestyle. Therefore, working people can utilize hobby as stress buster and old people can not stay alone if they are busy doing something enjoyable.

To conclude, it is true that nowadays hobby helps to utilize free time in order to make life easier and worthwhile. It helps everyone to grow efficiently, to find a purpose in life, and to lead life happily.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing why having a hobby is important across different age groups, specifically children, working adults, and retired individuals. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. Ideas are extended and supported with relevant examples, such as reading for children and sports or group activities for adults and seniors. However, some arguments tend to over-generalise or remain slightly under-developed, placing the response comfortably within the Band 6.5 to 7.0 criteria. For example, the point about retired people utilizing a sedentary lifestyle could be clarified further. Overall, the prompt is fully satisfied with well-structured ideas.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay displays a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Information and ideas are coherently arranged into an introduction, two distinct body paragraphs covering the different age groups, and a concise conclusion. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well, such as 'For instance', 'Nowadays', 'Similiarly', and 'Therefore'. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately to separate the groups discussed. However, referencing and transitional mechanics are occasionally mechanical or slightly repetitive, preventing a higher band score. For instance, the transition 'Similiarly' contains a spelling error and is used to link a working adult point to a retired person point rather smoothly. Overall, the cohesive framework supports the flow of ideas effectively.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'multitasking employees', 'stress buster', and 'sedentary lifestyle'. However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies and awkward word choices, such as 'enjoyable activity in lesiure time' (misspelled leisure), 'different categorized groups' (awkward phrasing), and 'bringing a pet' instead of 'keeping a pet' or 'walking a pet'. Spelling errors like 'lesiure' and 'Similiarly' occur, though they do not impede communication. The lexical range is sufficient for some flexibility and precision, but occasional errors restrict it to Band 6.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating attempts at subordination and relative clauses, such as 'If they invest free time in an activity... they are more likely to return to work refreshed and focused.' There are several grammatical errors and awkward structures throughout the text, including 'getting higher paying jobs require' (subject-verb agreement error), 'senior citizen likes' (plural/singular mismatch), and missing articles or prepositions in phrases like 'carrying huge burden of responsibilities'. Despite these errors in grammar and punctuation, the communication of ideas is not impeded, and meaning remains clear. This profile aligns well with the Band 6 descriptor.

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.