Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-08-14

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)

Many young people after finishing highschool perefer to take some time of from further education to find peace or to gain some experience or maybe travel a little either way i strongly agree with taking a year or some time to do what they feel like doing.

Student really do not have time to travel or to do anything they are passionate about. they only work hard for straightforward for twelve years and just doing syllabus like math, science, language or social science. so they most probably lost what they should chose for there further education in college and in order to find what they want to do in college the should have some experience. regarding there future career and there is no pressure for them in the gap year so they can switch the jobs and find what they are really passionate about.

Student who travel in this time will most likely find new things whail they are traveling and meet different people during their trips its really importent to travel for every individual to find them self and its really important in the life and work to communicate with new people and during this time they will most probably learn this skill.

Although i agree with taking some time off from education but its really improtent to use the gap year too if young are working or travelling in order to gain experience its a really good thing but is they are wasting this ttime for fun and not doing anything productive it will really hurt them in the future.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by expressing a clear position in favor of taking a gap year. However, the development of ideas is limited. While you mention the benefits of gaining experience and traveling, the arguments are somewhat repetitive and lack depth. For instance, the point about 'finding oneself' is mentioned but not fully explored in the context of academic readiness. To reach a higher band, you should provide more specific examples or logical explanations of how these experiences directly translate into better performance or clearer focus when returning to university. The response is somewhat informal in tone, which impacts the academic quality of the argument.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is organized into paragraphs, but the flow between and within them is weak. There is a lack of cohesive devices (such as 'furthermore', 'consequently', or 'in contrast') to link ideas logically. Many sentences are connected by simple conjunctions like 'and' or 'so', which makes the progression feel mechanical. Additionally, the referencing is sometimes unclear; for example, the transition between the benefits of travel and the warning about 'wasting time' in the final paragraph is abrupt. Improving the use of linking words and ensuring each paragraph has a clear topic sentence would significantly improve the coherence of your writing.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is basic and repetitive. You frequently use simple words like 'do', 'get', and 'things', which limits your ability to express complex ideas precisely. There are also several spelling errors, such as 'perefer', 'improtent', 'whail', and 'there' (used instead of 'their'). While the meaning is generally clear, the lack of variety and the persistent spelling mistakes prevent the essay from reaching a higher band. To improve, focus on learning topic-specific collocations related to education and career development, and proofread your work carefully to catch common spelling errors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay relies heavily on simple sentence structures. There are frequent grammatical errors, including subject-verb agreement issues (e.g., 'Student really do not have time'), incorrect verb forms, and missing articles. Punctuation is also problematic, with many run-on sentences and a lack of commas to separate clauses, which makes the text difficult to read at times. While you attempt some complex ideas, the lack of control over basic grammar and syntax means that errors are frequent and occasionally impede the reader's understanding. Focusing on sentence construction and basic punctuation rules is essential for improvement.

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

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