Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-09-29
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)
Having a hobby is crucial at every stage of life. I firmly believe that everyone should have at least one hobby, no matter what their age is. I will discuss why a hobby is important further in the essay.
The first and foremost reason to have a hobby is that it helps people to relax their minds. It is one type of getaway from their current situation. For example, nowadays, students have lots of burden of studies, and they are constantly under pressure to perform well. In this tense situation, if they do something related to their hobby like playing sports, cycling in mountains or going for swimming can reduce stress and help them to focus on their studies. Many researchers have proven that a clear mind can increase people's ability to concentrate.
Another reason to agree that having a hobby is important that it can help people to be smarter and do better in their lives. For instance, if someone has hobby of reading books, it can help them to gain knowledge about whether it is stocks, politics and many other sectors. People can meet new people from other culture and see life from a different perspective if they have a hobby to go out and explore new places.
To sum up, hobbies play a crucial role at every stage of life. Having a hobby can help people to be a better peroson grow well in their lives. From children to older people, hobbies are one thing which can make them feel alive.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 7.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 7.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 6.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 6.0 |
| Overall | 6.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0
The student successfully addresses all parts of the prompt, agreeing that having a hobby is important for people at all stages of life. A clear position is maintained throughout the essay. The ideas are relevant and supported with examples, such as students dealing with study burdens by playing sports or cycling, and adults gaining knowledge through reading. However, some of the ideas could have been extended further to meet the higher band descriptors fully, particularly regarding how retired people or working people specifically benefit. Overall, the task is addressed well, matching the requirements for a Band 6.5 to 7.0 range, sitting comfortably at Band 7.0 for clear positioning and supported ideas.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0
The essay displays a clear overall progression and logical organisation. Each body paragraph has a distinct focus, introducing specific reasons to support the thesis statement. Cohesive devices such as 'The first and foremost reason', 'Another reason', and 'To sum up' are employed to guide the reader through the text, although some transitions feel slightly formulaic. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Referencing is generally clear, though minor improvements in linking sentences could enhance the flow further. The organisational structure meets the criteria for Band 6.5 or 7.0, and the clear logical progression justifies a Band 7.0 score.
Lexical Resource: Band 6.0
The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'getaway', 'concentrate', and 'perspective'. However, there are notable word choice and preposition errors, such as 'lots of burden of studies' instead of 'a heavy study burden', and 'has hobby of reading books' missing an article ('a hobby'). Additionally, there is a spelling mistake ('peroson') in the conclusion. While these lexical errors do not impede communication, they reflect the limitations typical of a Band 6.0 performance, where vocabulary is adequate to convey meaning but lacks the precision and flexibility of higher bands.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0
The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms throughout the response, including conditional structures like 'if they do something related to their hobby... can reduce stress'. There are several grammatical errors and awkward phrasings, such as 'playing sports, cycling in mountains or going for swimming' (faulty parallelism) and 'is important that it can help' (missing 'stating' or 'is that'). Punctuation and article usage also exhibit occasional inaccuracies. Despite these errors, meaning is generally clear and communication is not impeded. This balance of mixed structures and frequent minor errors aligns well with the descriptors for a Band 6.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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