Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-09-14

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 5.5)

Getting a good job is really difficult in modern times as AI is conveniently replacing jobs everywhere most predominantly in the developed countries like USA, Russia, Dubai, Germany, etc.

When it comes to job interview, interviewers usually tends to ask a lot of personal as well as private questions for example weather the person is married or not? does he/ she has any children of their own? And maybe about how many people live with them etc. These questions can get annoying sometimes for the person giving interview, while the interviewers does not seem to care much about the feelings of their person next to them.

Some people belief that this information is beneficial and important for them to take a decision while others think that this factor should however not matter much if the person giving interview has a strong resume and work Experience. However, i personally belief that his/her personal life should not be mixed with the professional life as they are two totally different areas.

The reason is that i think if someone is really focused and are career-centric he/she will make the both ends meet anyways, no matter how the life throw different challenges at them they will however overcome them easily.

Another point is that even if a person is single has no responsibilities on them they can be going through some hard time in their lives at any given time.

In conclusion, anybody can have a rough patch at any given time in their life. What`s more important is that you should be focused and resilient and face the challenges life throws on you face with a lot of strength and courage. Then and only then can you achieve greatness in life and in your career.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both views—that personal information is useful versus the view that it is irrelevant—and clearly states a personal opinion, noting that personal and professional lives should remain separate. The ideas are generally relevant, but the development lacks depth. For instance, the discussion on career-centric individuals making ends meet and handling challenges is somewhat repetitive and tangential to the core debate of whether marital status or hobbies are legitimate hiring criteria. The opening statement about AI replacing jobs in specific countries like 'Dubai' and 'Russia' is also a slight diversion from the prompt. While the student's position is clear throughout, the support for arguments tends to rely on general assertions rather than concrete examples or well-extended analysis. Therefore, this performance fits the Band 6 descriptors where all parts are addressed, but some ideas are under-developed or veer slightly off-track.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay displays a logical overall arrangement with a clear attempt to structure the response into an introduction, body paragraphs exploring different viewpoints, and a conclusion. However, cohesion is frequently faulty and mechanical. There is an over-reliance on basic cohesive devices like 'Another point is that' and 'In conclusion'. Furthermore, paragraphing is erratic; the body of the essay contains several abrupt line breaks and disjointed single-sentence paragraphs (such as 'The reason is that i think...' and 'Another point is that...'), which disrupts the flow and logical progression of ideas. Referencing and pronoun agreement are also occasionally unclear, such as 'the feelings of their person next to them'. Despite these structural and cohesive flaws, the overall meaning remains clear, aligning closely with Band 5 descriptors where organization is present but progression is disjointed and cohesive devices are awkwardly handled.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'career-centric', 'resilient', and 'rough patch'. However, there are numerous word choice, spelling, and collocation errors that detract from the overall quality. Examples include 'weather' instead of 'whether', 'belief' instead of 'believe' (used as a verb), 'making the both ends meet', and 'how the life throw different challenges'. Furthermore, capitalization errors ('i', 'Russian', 'Dubai') and punctuation issues occur throughout the text. While these lexical inaccuracies and spelling errors are noticeable and require the reader to occasionally pause, they do not severely impede communication. This performance fits squarely within Band 6, where the writer has an adequate vocabulary range for the task but exhibits recurrent lexical and mechanical inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The student attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating relative clauses and conditional structures. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors across the text. Examples of structural and agreement errors include 'interviewers usually tends to ask', 'does he/ she has any children', 'if a person is single has no responsibilities', and 'face the challenges life throws on you face with a lot of strength'. There are also persistent punctuation and capitalization lapses. Complex structures are often faulty, and the high frequency of basic grammatical errors means that error-free sentences are in the minority. This is characteristic of Band 5, where a limited range of structures is used, attempts at complex sentences often fail, and frequent errors cause some difficulty for the reader.

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

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