Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-08-19

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)

It has always been debatable whether it is useful to collect personal information of job applicants or it is just an irrelevant thing. Some people believe this information is significantly important while others criticize this and think it is an inappropriate approach to collect such personal data. I completely disagree with the concept of collecting personal details and interests of applicants.

To commence with, recruiters often collect personal information about their employees such as their interests, hobbies, and marital status. By collecting such information, they can offer them relevant positions which could matches their interests, so they can enjoy doing that work. As it is always noticed that individuals perform better on a job position which is related to their area of interest. For instance, if someone likes to interact with people, he may prefer working in customer services. Similarly, by asking about marital status, interviewers can estimate the availability and commitments of the job seekers, because most of married candidates does not prefer to travel for work and also avoid working overtime.

On the other hand, hobbies and personal interests does not reflect the actual personality and skill set of an individual. Individuals who are good with technology such as computer hardware or software might have a hobby of reading novels. So, this clearly justifyies that employers should hire individuals considering their technical knowledge and practical experience rather than focusing on their personal life and area of interests.

From my viewpoint, while hiring a candidate, their job experience and qualifications matter much more than their hobbies and interests. For instance, nowadays, individuals choose completely different hobbies to relax and disconnect themselves from their daily life stress.

To sum up, employers often want to collect personal information, so they can designate their employees a related position to get their maximum potential. Whereas, I believe this is an irrelevant approach, employers should focus on their experience and qualifications.

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 matching interests to job roles and the argument regarding technical skills versus hobbies. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For instance, the point about marital status is a bit superficial and could have been expanded with more nuanced reasoning. The position is consistent throughout, but the depth of analysis could be improved to reach a higher band by providing more sophisticated justifications for the arguments presented.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each paragraph has a central topic, and the progression of ideas is generally easy to follow. Cohesive devices such as 'To commence with', 'On the other hand', and 'To sum up' are used effectively to signal transitions. However, there are instances where the flow could be smoother, and some referencing is slightly repetitive. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the different viewpoints, which helps the reader navigate the argument effectively.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task. You use some good collocations like 'job applicants', 'skill set', and 'practical experience'. However, there are some minor inaccuracies in word choice, such as 'designate their employees a related position' (which should be 'assign') and 'irrelevant thing'. To reach a higher band, you should aim to incorporate more precise, less common lexical items and ensure that collocations are consistently natural. The current vocabulary is sufficient to convey your meaning clearly, but it lacks the sophistication required for higher bands.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

You demonstrate a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors that occur throughout the text. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues like 'hobbies and personal interests does not reflect' (should be 'do not reflect') and 'most of married candidates does not prefer' (should be 'do not prefer'). Additionally, there are minor punctuation and spelling errors, such as 'justifyies'. While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. Focusing on subject-verb agreement and proofreading for small slips would improve your accuracy.

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

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