Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 20 · 2026-10-04

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)

The need of having free time activities is gaining a huge popularity in the present day and time. It is widely argued that everyone should have atleast one leisure activity to perform whether they are kids, youngsters, retired or working adults. I certainly agree with the statement. From my standpoint, a free time activity helps a person to avoid excessive screen time and to alleviate stress levels.

One of the major reasons behind people's thinking of having a hobby is crucial is that it reduces over utilization of technology. No matter what is the age of a person, everyone feels lazy, exhausted and unproductive during some vacant times in their lives and they use technology such as social media and internet to overcome it. Therefore, if someone has a pass-time activity to do, it not only makes them feel fresh but also ehances their productivity by engaging them in something beneficial rather than being online all the time. To cite an example, mostly individuals pass their time by either watching movies or scrolling social apps. However, hobbies for instance, reading, cycling, playing sports in groups, facilitate humans to take a break from their prolonged screen times and do something productive which kills their boredom as well.

Another advantage of leisure time activity is eliminating the stress and anxiety. To elaborate, the young generation nowadays face a huge issue of stress and depression owing to their demanding schedules, even if it is school curriculum or long working hours. Having a pass-time hobby can help them to avoid their stressful lives by focuing on something that can calm their minds and acts as a break from their routines. To illustrate, I like reading fictional books as it helps me in reducing my stress levels by enagaging me in their imaginary worlds. This not only boosts my vocabulary but also helps me forget about my stressful life for some time.

Taking everything into account, I believe, having a hobby plays a vital role in improving a person's lifestyle by reducing their screen presence, killing boredom, being productive and by alleviating their stress levels as well. Hence, it has both physical and psychological benefits.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

Your response addresses all parts of the task by clearly stating a position agreeing with the prompt and discussing why hobbies are beneficial for people across different age groups. You present a clear position throughout the essay. Main ideas are extended and supported, particularly regarding reducing screen time and alleviating stress, such as your example of reading fictional books to escape routine and boost vocabulary. However, there is a slight tendency to over-generalise in parts of your body paragraphs, where arguments occasionally circle back to similar points about productivity and stress without introducing a wider dimension. To reach a higher level, you could ensure that every supporting point introduces a fully distinct sub-argument rather than echoing previous benefits.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

Your essay demonstrates a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Each paragraph has a distinct central topic, moving smoothly from an introduction to body paragraphs focused on technology reduction and stress elimination, and concluding with a concise summary. You use cohesive devices flexibly, such as 'Therefore', 'To cite an example', and 'To elaborate', which help guide the reader through your arguments. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately. To achieve an even higher score, you could refine the use of certain transitional phrases so that they feel entirely natural and integrated, avoiding mechanical signposting while maintaining flawless referencing between sentences.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items with some awareness of style and collocation, such as 'alleviate stress levels', 'demanding schedules', and 'prolonged screen times'. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and phrasing, such as writing 'The need of having' instead of 'The need to have', and minor collocation slips like 'pass-time hobby' instead of 'pastime' or simply 'hobby'. Spelling and word-choice errors are present, but they do not impede communication. To move into a higher band, you should aim for greater precision in word forms, collocations, and natural phrasing without relying on repetitive combinations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.5

Your response contains a good mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating your ability to construct multi-clause sentences such as 'Therefore, if someone has a pass-time activity to do, it not only makes them feel fresh but also ehances their productivity...'. There are some errors in grammar, including prepositions and articles, such as 'No matter what is the age of a person' instead of 'No matter what the age of a person is', and occasional spelling-related typographical slips like 'ehances'. However, these errors rarely impede communication, and you show solid control over most sentence structures. To push towards the highest bands, you need to increase the proportion of error-free complex sentences and eliminate minor structural slips.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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