Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-06

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 6.0)

Many employers, during job interviews, ask applicants personal questions. These questions could range from asking about their marital status to questions like what they do in their free time or how many friends they have. A number of people agree to the point that this information might be vital and relevant while others disapprove. I somewhat disagree with this because it depends on the degree of questions and how intimate they are. This essay will elaborate both these views using relevant examples and I will explain my opinion in detail.

Giving a job interview is already stressful enough for most people but then being asked certain personal questions puts them in an awkward spot. Nervousness is natural when sitting in a job interview, especially in front of a large panel and if you are an introvert, it's more bad news. Subsequently, if employers ask personal questions that make you uncomfortable; the interview can end up in a disaster. For example, most employers ask applicants about their marital status. If the person is separated or divorced, a question like this could make them uncomfortable and it would also effect answers of the following questions which will only make the situation worse.

On the other hand, if we look at it from an employer's perspective they would like to gauge the applicant's abilites not only based on their professional experience, but also their life outside work. This could include asking them about their hobbies, interests, friends, family and other such things. These employers would argue that these details play an important role in their selection process and help them choosing the best candidate. For example, an employer would ask about the marital status of a potential employee to get an idea about the size of their family so they would know if the salary they are offering is enough for them.

In my opinion, asking such questions is beneficial to a certain degree to the employer but if they ask too many irrelevant details it could make the applicant awkward and their professional expertise might be judged wrong if they get nervous during the interview.

In conclusion, asking such questions could be useful for the employers but the employees can feel uncomfortable during the interview and it can end in a disaster for them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You successfully address all parts of the task by discussing both views on whether personal information should be requested during job interviews and stating your own opinion. Your position is clear throughout the essay. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others, which is characteristic of this level. For instance, while your first body paragraph thoroughly explores the negative psychological impact of intrusive questions using the example of marital status, your discussion of the employer's perspective in the third paragraph is somewhat general and relies on a single financial justification. To reach a higher band, you would need to extend and support all your main ideas with deeper analysis rather than briefly touching upon them.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

Your essay has a coherent overall arrangement and a clear logical progression, successfully bridging into the half-band territory by managing paragraphing sufficiently and appropriately. Each paragraph has a distinct focus, moving from an introduction to opposing views, and finally to your conclusion. You make use of various cohesive devices such as 'On the other hand' and 'In conclusion'. However, your use of cohesion can occasionally feel slightly mechanical or repetitive, such as the frequent reliance on 'such questions' or 'asking such questions' to link your ideas. To achieve the next band, you should aim for smoother, more varied referencing and cohesive relationships between sentences without relying as heavily on repeated lexical links.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, allowing you to communicate your ideas clearly. You attempt some less common items such as 'marital status', 'introvert', and 'professional expertise'. However, there are some word-choice and collocation errors that prevent a higher score, such as writing 'Giving a job interview' instead of 'Attending a job interview' or 'taking a job interview', and writing 'effect answers' instead of 'affect answers'. Spelling is generally accurate, but these occasional slips in word choice and expression show a lack of precise control over less common lexical items, keeping your vocabulary score at this level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating control over basic structures and attempting more intricate clauses, such as 'Nervousness is natural when sitting in a job interview, especially in front of a large panel and if you are an introvert, it's more bad news.' There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, such as the comma splice before 'the interview can end up in a disaster' and minor prepositional or structural awkwardness like 'help them choosing' instead of 'help them choose'. Importantly, these errors rarely impede communication and your meaning remains clear throughout. To move up, you need to produce a higher proportion of error-free complex sentences and refine your punctuation control.

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