Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-08-12

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 5.5)

In this fast-paced world, young people have made significant progress in many fields. Pupils want to take some short breaks after completing their school, particularly before starting universities lives in order to gain experience like work or travel. Although this non-academic life experience have a lot of benefits such as independency, improve skills, cultural awareness and reduce boredom or anxiety. I largely agree with this viewpoint because take a year out has singnificatly improved their cognitive skills as well as holistic development.

To commence with, young people have become independent and improve their skills. In some foreign countries, parents always encourage their children to make tour to some strange locations, because they think that different culture gives a lot of benefits such as language, clothes, food and employments. As a result, young individuals can learn somthing new from different part of the world, and get professional experience like adults. Also, young people learn about different history, culture and habitat.

Furthermore, a year out offers better job opportunities. Although there are several online plateforms which provide reliable working hours, scholars can get real experience and employment methods. For example, many countries provide free enroll in some courses, such as CCC, computer science and digital marketing. Therefore, students can improve thier productivity as well as creativity.

Nevertheless, some societies believe that a year out can badly impact on their children, because they may adapt with some bad habits. In addition, students are reduce their interest from their curriculum.

To sum up, i largely agree that today's youth have made increasingly growth in many fields. A year out can give several benefits, such as independency, improve skills, cultural awareness. However, some communities argue that vacation tour can divert their child from education.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt and maintains a clear position throughout. The ideas are relevant, such as the benefits of independence and skill acquisition. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat superficial. For instance, the mention of 'CCC, computer science and digital marketing' as examples of 'real experience' is slightly disconnected from the concept of a gap year. The conclusion is a bit repetitive and does not fully synthesize the arguments presented. To reach a higher band, you should provide more concrete, well-explained examples that directly support your main arguments rather than listing general concepts.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. There is a basic attempt to use cohesive devices like 'To commence with', 'Furthermore', and 'Nevertheless'. However, the use of these devices is sometimes mechanical or slightly unnatural, such as 'To commence with' to start a body paragraph. Additionally, some transitions between sentences within paragraphs are abrupt, making the flow feel a bit disjointed. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring that ideas transition smoothly from one to the next would significantly enhance the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, including terms like 'cognitive skills', 'holistic development', and 'productivity'. However, there are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'starting universities lives', 'make tour to some strange locations', and 'students are reduce their interest'. Spelling errors like 'singnificatly', 'somthing', 'plateforms', and 'thier' also occur. While these errors do not prevent the reader from understanding your message, they limit the precision and sophistication of your expression. Focusing on accurate collocations and proofreading for spelling will help improve your score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors that affect the accuracy of your writing. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('experience have', 'students are reduce'), incorrect verb forms ('because take a year out has'), and missing articles or prepositions. While the meaning is generally clear, these persistent errors indicate a lack of control over more complex structures. To improve, focus on mastering basic sentence construction and subject-verb agreement before attempting more complex grammatical forms. Proofreading for common errors like tense consistency is also essential.

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

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