Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-21
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)
It is often argued that it is very important for people of all ages should have atleast of one hobby in their free time. I completely agree with this view because hobbies can improve person physical and mental well-being and helps to develop social and personal skills.
One of the significant reasons to having a hobby is to improve physical and mental well-being. This is because hobies allows then individuals to take a break and reduce their stress after their busy lifestyle. Although children , young adults , working people and retired people have different lifestyle, they can take the benefits of hobbies which give them happiness. For example, working poeple go in the park for walk, run and play some game which reduces then stress after their busy day. As a result hobbies provides the individual healthy lifestyle.
Another important benefit is that it helps the individuals to develop new skills and build socal connections. When people participate in different activities such as painting, cooking, playing games and leaning to play instrument, helps to develop patience, creativity and other important abilities. Not only these activities helps them to develop important skills, but also helps the people to meet who has the same interest. For example, retired people can do the gardening in the park in the evening time and make their friends which helps to stay away from the isolation.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing why having a hobby is important for children, young adults, working people, and the retired, and presents a clear position in complete agreement. Ideas are extended with relevant examples, such as working people walking in the park and retired people doing gardening to avoid isolation. However, the development tends to generalise slightly, and more importantly, the Length Check reports that the response contains only 231 words, failing to reach the minimum 250-word requirement. This under-length shortfall directly impacts task fulfillment and prevents the score from reaching a higher band. Consequently, a band score of 5.0 is appropriate.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, two distinct body paragraphs focusing on well-being and skills/social connections respectively, and logical progression throughout. The student uses basic cohesive devices adequately, such as 'Although', 'For example', and 'As a result'. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas. However, referencing is occasionally faulty, as seen in the phrase 'allows then individuals', and some sentences feel mechanically connected. Despite these minor cohesive slips, the logical organization remains clear enough to meet the criteria for a band 6.0.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items and topic-specific terms such as 'well-being', 'isolation', 'creativity', and 'patience'. However, there are noticeable word-choice, collocation, and grammatical form errors throughout the text, including 'atleast of one', 'person physical', 'hobies allows then individuals', 'working poeple', and 'do the gardening'. While these errors do not severely impede communication, they demonstrate limitations in lexical control and precision, placing this performance solidly at band 5.5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating conditional and concessive clauses such as 'Although children... have different lifestyle, they can take the benefits...' and 'When people participate in different activities... helps to develop...'. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('hobies allows', 'activities helps'), article usage ('to having a hobby'), and pluralisation. Complex structures are often faulty, and these persistent errors occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. Nevertheless, basic meaning remains clear, supporting a band 5.0.
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.