Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-11-05

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

Write about the following topic:

Many young people choose to take a year out between finishing school and starting university in order to gain work experience or to travel. The experience of non-academic life this offers benefits the individual when they return to education.

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience

Student answer (Band 5.0)

It has been observed that many young ppeople choose to take a year out between finishing school and starting university in order to gain work experience or to travel. They believe this helps to gain experience.

In my perspective, it is not a right decision. I actually do not agree with this statement.Because it has been observed that when people take gap year despite of gain experience they waste their one year.They spent their time only in leisure activities which have actual benefits.

Specially in Pakistan, it has been seen that when students take a year out , despite of having work experience or travel they keep on involving such destructive activities. Within a year their habits become parttern.After that they dont take interest in studies. Their priorities starts to change. They feel fun in such immature and destructive activities.

For example, one of my cousin took a gap year. He intented to relax and gain some real life experience by spending this time in his father's sweet shop. He wa very disciplined earlier but then he started to wake up late.He became very passive within months. He only want to his father's shop whenever he wanted to with no restrictions and no rules. He was allowed to take money from locker whwnever he wants.This habit ruined his personality and he ended up to get money without efforts. So it was a bad experience for him.

So in my point of view, people should not take a year out for further studies. They can gain enough life experience and can travel even during university studies.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you disagree with taking a gap year, and you give a relevant example about your cousin’s experience in his father’s shop. However, the response addresses the topic only partially. It focuses mainly on the risk of leisure and poor habits, without considering the stated benefits of travel or structured work experience, or explaining when a gap year might be beneficial. The cousin’s story supports your view, but the conclusion that people should not take a year out is broader than this single example can establish. The response is also below the required 250 words: 244 words were counted, with 21 words copied from the prompt excluded. Develop your reasoning and address both sides of the experience described in the question.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a recognisable structure: an introduction, reasons for disagreement, a personal example, and a conclusion. The example is placed after the general claim, which helps the reader follow your main point. However, progression is limited because the second and third paragraphs repeat the idea that gap years lead to harmful habits, rather than developing distinct reasons. Some links are awkward or unclear, such as “despite of gain experience,” and “So” introduces the conclusion without showing how the example supports a general recommendation. Use clearer topic sentences and connect each paragraph’s claim to its evidence. A more balanced sequence—position, reason, example, and qualification—would make the argument easier to follow.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use enough topic-related vocabulary to communicate your main concern, including “gap year,” “work experience,” “priorities,” and “destructive activities.” The example also includes specific details about the shop and money, which make the account concrete. However, the range is limited and several expressions are repeated, especially “experience,” “activities,” and “habits.” Some word choices or combinations are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “feel fun,” “ended up to get money,” and “real life experience.” Spelling errors, including “ppeople,” “parttern,” and “whwnever,” also reduce accuracy. Build a wider set of precise phrases for discussing benefits and risks, and check spelling and collocations carefully.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt some longer sentences to explain cause and effect, and the reader can generally understand your disagreement and the cousin’s story. However, the range is limited, with many simple statements and complex sentences that are not controlled reliably. For example, “I actually do not agree with this statement.Because…” creates a sentence fragment, while “Their priorities starts to change” has a subject–verb agreement error. Tense and verb-form problems also appear in “He only want to his father’s shop” and “whenever he wants.” Punctuation is inconsistent, including missing spaces after full stops. Practise joining clauses accurately, checking agreement and tense, and proofreading sentence boundaries; these changes would make your reasoning clearer.

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

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