Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-07

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)

A growing number of employers are asking questions to interview candidates related to their hobbies and interests. Others argue that this details should be secured and it is not an ethical to share with colleagues or employers. Therefore, I largely agree with both views, because taking a personal information allow employers to know about candidate's behaviour and work potential, whereas it could be unsafe to disclosed the personal details with them in certain situations.

On the one hand, sharing information regarding hobbies and interests of job seeker's facilitate the hiring department to get background of their nature, work capacity, hidden capabilities and creative thoughts, which are useful to their professional career and success of company in the future. For example, details of their hobbies like painting, taking part in sports activities revel their hidden skills like high concentration power, good communication, team-work and leadership skills, which provide perfect picture of interview candidate and display their hidden talent. Moreover, marital status offers the details of their working hours, as unmarried employee are flexible with long working hours and able to travel abroad for the business meeting purpose frequently, which would be challenging for married employees to fulfil the additional requirements of organisations.

On the other hand, personal information could not influence the recruitment decision, as their professional skills, achievements and educational background matter most instead of their interests, hobbies or marital status. Sometimes sharing personal details could be create unforeseen consequences for candidates and affect the overall decision of the appointing procedure. As a number of employees are willing to work overtime despite of their married status and family responsibilities. therefore, hiring a workers based on their hobbies, interests or other things is unethical and bias and talented candidates may lose the opportunity to get job despite having higher qualifications and capabilities as per the requirement of work position.

In conclusion, taking personal details of interview candidates facilitate the employers to get precise information regarding their behaviour, work capacity and hidden talent, which they can contribute for the progress of individual company. Whereas, it should be unethical to ask the questions related to their personal life and hobbies, as education, past achievements and professional qualities matter a lot while choosing talented employees for the company.

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 clear personal opinion. The ideas are relevant, such as the mention of 'team-work' and 'leadership skills' as indicators of potential, and the counter-argument regarding potential bias. However, the development of these ideas is sometimes hindered by grammatical errors that obscure the intended meaning, such as the claim that marital status indicates working hours. While the position is clear throughout, the depth of analysis could be improved by avoiding over-generalizations about the relationship between marital status and professional flexibility.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. The use of cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'Moreover', and 'In conclusion' helps to guide the reader through the argument. However, the flow is occasionally interrupted by awkward phrasing and minor mechanical errors in referencing, such as 'this details' (should be 'these details'). While the progression of ideas is generally clear, the transition between sentences could be smoother to achieve a more natural, sophisticated flow. The paragraphing is appropriate and contributes to the overall coherence of the response.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, including terms like 'unforeseen consequences', 'professional career', and 'recruitment decision'. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, but these are occasionally used inaccurately, such as 'it is not an ethical' (should be 'unethical') and 'revel' (should be 'reveal'). Some word choices are slightly repetitive or imprecise, such as 'other things' or 'hiring a workers'. While communication is not impeded, the lack of precision in word choice and occasional collocation errors prevent the response from reaching a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors that affect the accuracy of the writing. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('this details', 'unmarried employee are', 'hiring a workers'), incorrect article usage, and awkward phrasing ('it is not an ethical to share'). While the meaning remains clear, these persistent errors in basic grammar and sentence construction are noticeable. To improve, the student should focus on proofreading for subject-verb agreement and ensuring that complex sentence structures are grammatically sound.

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