Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-07-27

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Employers sometimes ask people applying for jobs for personal information, such as their hobbies and interests, and whether they are married or single. Some people say that this information may be relevant and useful. Others disagree.

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

 

Student answer (Band 6.5)

Asking for personal details in an interview is been a sparking debate in the recent times. Questions about hobbies and interests are acceptable whereas questions related to the marital status is illegal for an employer to ask for. Some people say this information is relevant and useful. However some people argue personal details like marital status are not applicable for a job interview.In this essay I will try to explain both the views and give my personal opinion.

Employers check the candidates for their personal interests and hobbies to understand the behaviour of the applicant and how can that affect the company policy. This will also help them to maintain the harmony. For example in 2012 a person in an interview expressed hacking as a hobby and then after couple of months he hacked the company website and sold it to black web just for fun.

Some people think asking for personal information is irrelevant because there is a chance of peers taking advantage of the employees. Certain times disclosing the personal information is harmful as it can be used in various malicious activities. For example in an interview in India - Jaipur a female’s personal details were asked by the interviewer and then used against her for not accepting his conditions of interest.

However, disclosing personal information certain times helps in understanding a person’s motive, behaviour towards others and the working environment. Also sometimes affects the lives of the people who are working under wrong management.

In my opinion questions like hobbies and interests are good to ask. However, questions like marital status are not relevant in an interview.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both sides of the argument and providing a personal opinion. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. The example regarding the hacker is specific but lacks a clear connection to how general hobbies reflect company policy. The example of the incident in Jaipur is relevant but could be more effectively integrated into the argument. The conclusion is brief and does not fully synthesize the points made in the body paragraphs. To reach a higher band, you should aim to expand on your reasoning and ensure that your examples directly support your main arguments more thoroughly.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical and occasionally repetitive. For instance, the transition between the introduction and the first body paragraph is abrupt. While there is a logical progression, the flow between sentences could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words (e.g., 'furthermore', 'consequently', 'in contrast'). Referencing is generally clear, but the overall structure feels a bit disjointed in places, particularly in the transition to the final opinion paragraph.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the message to be conveyed clearly. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'malicious activities' and 'harmony', which are used correctly. However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'sparking debate' instead of 'sparked a debate' and 'black web' instead of 'dark web'. The range is sufficient to discuss the topic, but it lacks the precision and flexibility required for a higher band score. Improving your control over collocations will enhance your lexical score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors that occur throughout the text, such as 'is been a sparking debate' (should be 'has been a subject of debate') and 'questions related to the marital status is illegal' (should be 'are illegal'). Additionally, there are issues with article usage and subject-verb agreement. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding the main points, they are frequent enough to impact the overall fluency and accuracy of the writing. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for subject-verb agreement would be beneficial.

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