Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 12 · 2026-10-20

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)

There is a debate over how children should spend their free time. Some people believe that they should participate in organised group activities, while other argues that children should learn to entertain themselves. This essay will discuss both views before concluding that the balance of both works best.

On the one hand, team work offers significant benefits. Firstly, they develop social skills, such as team work, cooperation and trust. When children perform activity together they learn to support each other. For example, in a dance classes or while playing fotball children communicate with other team kids, which helps to improve their coordination in a team. These skills cannot be learned when kids play alone. Furthermore, such activities are often supervised by professionals, so chances of injury are mitigate. Experts explain all the rules and regulations in detail that helps children to perform activity safely. As a result, parents feel secure to leave their children with experts and focus on imperative task.

On the other hand, playing alone would help to develop creativity. Chidren will focus more when playing alone and learn something innovative. For instance, playing videogames independently help children know about their strength and weakness. Consequently, they keep on practising, unless they learn to perfom better. Besides this, it would also help children to build confidence and solve their issues alone.

In my opinion, although group activities are best for social development and building trust in children, learning alone is eqully important to develop confidence. Therefore, parents should encourage their children to perfom alone and in group. Once or twice a week children should participate in organised activity and time to do unstructed activities should be also given.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

You address both views and give a clear opinion: the conclusion recommends a balance between organised activities and independent play. The discussion of group activities is more fully supported, with social skills, cooperation and adult supervision explained and illustrated. The case for independent play is relevant, especially creativity and confidence, but points such as learning about one’s “strength and weakness” through video games are not fully explained, and the example is narrow. This meets the task well overall, while some ideas remain less developed than others. To strengthen the response further, explain more precisely how independent activities build problem-solving or creativity, and connect your suggested weekly balance to the benefits discussed.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 7.0

The essay has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs for each view, and a conclusion that states your position. Linking phrases such as “On the one hand,” “On the other hand,” “Furthermore,” and “Therefore” make the progression easy to follow. The main ideas are generally ordered logically, and examples are placed alongside the points they support. Some connections are less smooth or precise, however: “These skills cannot be learned when kids play alone” is an abrupt contrast, and “Besides this” introduces a point without showing clearly how it relates to creativity. The final recommendation also moves quickly from the discussion to a weekly schedule. Use more precise referencing and transitions to make these relationships feel less formulaic.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range for the topic, including relevant terms such as “social skills,” “cooperation,” “supervised,” “creativity,” and “confidence.” These choices help communicate the main ideas, and some topic-specific vocabulary is attempted. However, several spelling and word-choice errors reduce precision, including “fotball,” “Chidren,” “eqully,” and “unstructed.” There are also awkward or inaccurate combinations such as “perform activity,” “team kids,” and “imperative task.” These do not prevent understanding, but they limit the naturalness and control expected at a stronger level. Check spelling carefully and learn common collocations as complete phrases, such as “take part in an activity” and “focus on important tasks.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex forms, including a contrast clause (“although group activities are best…”) and a result clause (“so chances of injury…”). Most sentences communicate their meaning, but some grammatical errors remain. For example, “other argues” has a subject–verb agreement problem, while “playing videogames independently help children” needs a singular verb. In “Experts explain all the rules and regulations in detail that helps children,” the relative clause does not clearly refer to the intended noun. Articles and plural forms also need attention in phrases such as “in a dance classes.” Review agreement, articles and clause construction, then proofread each sentence for a clear subject and verb. More accurate control of these patterns would make your varied sentence forms more effective.

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