Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-11-13

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 6.5)

Some people argue that young people taking a gap year after school have advantages when the come back to education, because of the experience outside of the academic education. I agree, because I think that through the non-academic life of young people they can get a different type of learning and experience compared with the academic life.

After graduating school, the students who get work experience or go travel gain experience that they didn't get at school or academic education. The reason for that is, because in their school life they didn't have the opportunity to work a full time job or travel for a long time to another country, because of the time-intensive school system. After school, they have the opportunity to do so and are therefore gaining new life experience. For example, a German student traveling to Asia in his gap year. I argue that he learns new communication skills in Asia, because he wants to meet new friends. As a consequence, these new communication skills are a benefit, because he can use them to connect with new people in the education after the gap year.

A lot of students are not sure which job or area they want to work in after school. Some of them apply for a full time job in their gap year. Through that full time job they gain work experience and get a opinion if they want to further educate in that industry or if they want to work in another industry. For instance, a graduate is in his gap year and works in the logistic industry. In school, he wasn't sure if he wants to work in the logistic industry long term. It turns out that he really likes the job and when he returned to education to study logistics, he was sure about his decision to pursue a career in that industry.

All in all, I think that taking a gap year and getting real life experience besides school can benefit graduades when they return to education, because they can get experience and opportunities which they didn't get in school.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 7.0

Your position is clear from the introduction: you agree that non-academic experience benefits young people when they return to education. Both travel and employment are relevantly addressed, and you support them with examples, including the student who develops communication skills in Asia and the graduate who discovers an interest in logistics. These examples explain how a gap year can help with social interaction and educational or career choices. The response therefore covers the task and develops its main ideas. To strengthen it further, explain more fully how these benefits affect academic performance or engagement after returning to study; the link is stated, but not explored in much detail. The conclusion restates your view, though it could synthesise the two distinct benefits more precisely.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The essay has a clear overall structure: an introduction, separate paragraphs on travel and work, and a concluding summary. The ideas progress logically within each paragraph, and linking expressions such as “For example,” “As a consequence,” and “All in all” help show relationships between points. This gives the reader a coherent route through your argument. However, some connections are mechanical or repetitive, particularly the repeated use of “because” and “experience,” and the first body paragraph’s example could be integrated more smoothly into the explanation. At times, references such as “he” and “they” make the examples feel less consistent. Use a wider range of transitions and clearer links between each example and its effect on returning to education.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “gap year,” “work experience,” “communication skills,” and “pursue a career.” These choices make your main points understandable, and phrases such as “time-intensive school system” show an attempt to use more specific language. However, the range is limited by repeated general terms such as “experience,” “school,” and “education,” and some combinations are unnatural or imprecise, including “go travel,” “get a opinion,” and “further educate.” There are also spelling errors in “graduades” and “logistic.” Aim to vary repeated words and learn common collocations as complete phrases. More precise vocabulary for personal development and academic motivation would help express the benefits with greater flexibility.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 6.0

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including subordinate clauses with “because,” “when,” and “if,” and most of your meaning remains clear. The sentence beginning “After school, they have the opportunity to do so” shows an effective attempt to connect a cause with its result. Some grammatical errors remain, however. For example, “when the come back” needs a subject pronoun, “a opinion” needs the correct article, and “if he wants” is inconsistent with the past-tense context of “wasn’t sure.” The opening sentence also has an awkward clause structure: “because of the experience outside of the academic education.” Review articles, pronoun forms, and tense consistency, then proofread complex sentences to improve accuracy.

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

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