Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-08-15

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Some people say that parents should encourage their children to take part in organised group activities in their free time. Others say that it is important for children to learn how to occupy themselves on their own.

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 is considered by some people that child's parents should motivate them to spend their leisure time with other children in groups. However, others believe that learning how to stay alone is crucial for youngsters. This writing will explicate both the views along with my perspective in conclusion.

To commence with, there are lots of benefits to the former notion. The predominant one, children can socialize and make new friends in group activities. To explain it, teenagers have increased interest in group members while working in pairs. They get to interact with each other which raise their self confidence and social skills. To epitome, researches shows that teens working or playing in groups are more extrovert and healthier both physically and mentally. Thus, youngsters spending free time in groups are more socially developed and healthier.

Moving towards with later statement, the prominent advantage is that teenagers learning how to live alone can better work on themselves such as their academics and personal skills. To elaborate it, children can focus on their education which will help them perform better in their studies, and they can achieve higher or desired score. For instance, a study done in U.S shows that youngsters who have free time for them are gaining higher marks and scholarships in schools and colleges. Therefore, occupying themself alone reduces stress on both children and parents about lacking behind in studies.

To conclude, although staying alone can help teens perform better in many areas, I believe that they should be motivated by their parents and society to work, play and spend free time in groups with friends as it has more pros than latter notion.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses both sides of the argument and provides a clear personal opinion in the conclusion. The ideas are relevant and generally well-supported, such as the benefits of socialization versus the academic advantages of independent study. However, the development is somewhat limited; for instance, the reference to a 'study done in U.S' is vague and lacks specific detail. To reach a higher band, ensure that examples are more concrete and that the explanation of ideas is more deeply explored. The position is consistent throughout the essay, meeting the requirements of the prompt effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized into clear paragraphs, each focusing on a specific aspect of the prompt. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'To commence with', 'Moving towards with later statement', and 'To conclude', which help guide the reader. However, some transitions are slightly awkward or non-standard, such as 'Moving towards with later statement'. Additionally, the use of referencing could be more precise to improve the flow between sentences. Overall, the progression of ideas is clear, and the paragraphing is appropriate for the task.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express ideas clearly. There are some attempts at less common vocabulary, such as 'predominant', 'explicate', and 'extrovert'. However, there are instances of imprecise word choice or minor collocation errors, such as 'To epitome' (should be 'To epitomize' or 'For example') and 'lacking behind' (should be 'lagging behind'). The range is sufficient to convey meaning, but more precise and varied vocabulary would be needed to reach a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The essay demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are several grammatical errors, such as 'child's parents should motivate them' (should be 'parents should motivate their children'), 'which raise their self confidence' (subject-verb agreement error: 'raises'), and 'occupying themself' (should be 'themselves'). These errors do not significantly impede communication, but they occur frequently enough to prevent a higher score. Increasing the variety of complex structures while ensuring accuracy in subject-verb agreement and pronoun usage would improve the score.

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

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