Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-22
IELTS Writing Task 2 question
Nowadays many large international companies offer their staff the opportunity to spend a period of time living and working in another country.
Why might this opportunity be good for employees?
What advantages does this development have for companies?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Student answer (Band 5.0)
Some people believe that employers should allow their employees to work a four-day week instead of the traditional five-day week.
Do the advantages of a four-day working week outweigh the disadvantages?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
answer: It is argued that workers should be permitted to work a four-day week instead of the traditional five-day week by their workplace. This is beneficial because employees will get adequate time to spend quality time with their family and can spend time to work on themselves.
One of the primary advantages of working four-day week is working people can get sufficient time to enjoy with their loved ones. If individuals work for five-day week, they may not be able to plan to go on a short holiday or do family gatherings as they might not have enough time to do shoppings and organising the celebration. For instance, a recent study in Spain found out that there was a increment of 2% happiness in family bondings, aftern the implementation of the recent law of working four-day week in 2020.
Furthermore, people will be able to improve their physical and mental well-being. Having three days off a week from the work place allows individuals to relax and do the activities of their own interests. Employees are drained at work physically and mentally at workplace, however, having only four-day week to work will give space to their personal lives that can be invested to do physical exercises to remain physically fit and read books or medidate for the mental health. For instance, the sportsperson often gets a minimum of one month gap after they finish one game and begin another one to give them time to recharge and perform better.
In conclusion, it is a good initiation if employers permit workers to work four-days week rather than five-day week because it will strengthen the relationships of family and employees will be able to take care of their physical and mental fitness.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 3.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 6.0 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.0 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0
The candidate has unfortunately misread the prompt entirely. The writing prompt provided by the student focuses on a four-day working week, whereas the actual instructions required an evaluation of international assignments offered by multinational companies. Because the response addresses a completely different topic, it fails to fulfill the core requirements of Task Achievement. While the ideas regarding work-life balance and physical well-being are clearly stated and supported with examples, they do not answer the specific questions regarding employees and companies involved in international secondments. Consequently, this leads to a low band score for task response, as the content is largely off-topic for the prompt provided.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0
Despite the off-topic content, the text displays a reasonable underlying structure and logical progression. The essay is divided into a clear introduction, two body paragraphs exploring distinct advantages (family life and personal well-being), and a concluding summary. Cohesive devices such as 'Furthermore', 'One of the primary advantages', and 'In conclusion' are used to guide the reader through the text. Paragraphing is handled appropriately, ensuring that each paragraph has a central focus. However, referencing is occasionally imprecise, and the overall coherence is somewhat let down by the complete misalignment with the prompt's thematic requirements. Nevertheless, structurally, the writing demonstrates organizational competence consistent with a mid-level band.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for conveying everyday ideas. Phrases such as 'physical and mental well-being', 'personal lives', and 'family bondings' show a satisfactory command of topic-related vocabulary. However, there are notable lexical inaccuracies and awkward collocations throughout the text, such as 'do shoppings', 'an increment of 2%', and 'good initiation' instead of 'good initiative'. Spelling is generally acceptable, but minor lexical errors prevent the score from reaching higher bands. The vocabulary used is sufficient to communicate the writer's points clearly, but lacks the flexibility, precision, and sophistication required for Band 7.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, including conditional clauses ('If individuals work for...') and relative clauses. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors involving articles, prepositions, and word forms, such as 'working four-day week' (missing articles), 'aftern the implementation' (typographical error), 'at workplace' (missing article), and 'the sportsperson' (unnecessary definite article). While these errors do not completely impede communication and the reader can easily follow the intended meaning, the frequency of minor structural inaccuracies prevents the writing from achieving a higher band score.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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