Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-08-17

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 6.0)

Many young people decide to take a gap-year after finishing their high school for gaining work experience or to travel that offers a benefit to the individual when they return to education. However, though with certain demerits to the situation, I strongly agree with the statement.

On one hand, one of the major reason behind taking a year out is uncertainty. Most of the students go through a phase of distraction and are unsure about what career path they should pursue. For instance, students interested into arts rather than professional occupations like law or medicine tend to have doubts about future prospects, where taking a year and experiencing new fields can bring them clarity. Also, most of the youngsters are exhausted from academia by the time they complete their schooling; developing an urge to go for a break in order to travel to foreign lands and take up new adventures in life. Eventually it help the students to make a firm decision resulting into a fresh and confident restart.

On the other hand, these gap years might bring disadvantages too. Many a times, students loose their interest in education and get distracted by illegal activities. For example, during the break, they tend to meet new people with different backgrounds influencing them into wrongdoings such as getting them addicted to alcohol and drugs or involving them into unethical acts. Subsequently, ruining their careers and in absence of appropriate parental or mentor guidance.

Although, taking a gap year can be counted as a risk factor for young minds, I strongly believe that it can lead to benefits for the pupils when they enter a university.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

You have addressed all parts of the prompt and maintained a clear position throughout the essay. Your ideas regarding uncertainty and academic burnout are relevant and well-supported. However, the development of the counter-argument regarding 'illegal activities' is somewhat over-generalized and lacks a nuanced connection to the core topic of returning to education. To reach a higher band, ensure that every point made directly links back to how the gap year experience specifically impacts the individual's subsequent academic performance. The conclusion is a bit brief and could have been used to synthesize your main arguments more effectively.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is logically organized with a clear introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. You use cohesive devices such as 'On one hand,' 'On the other hand,' and 'Subsequently' to guide the reader. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and the paragraphing could be improved; for instance, the final paragraph is very short and could have been integrated or expanded. Additionally, the referencing in the third paragraph—specifically the transition from 'illegal activities' to 'ruining their careers'—is a sentence fragment that disrupts the flow of the argument.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

You demonstrate an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, such as 'uncertainty,' 'prospects,' and 'unethical acts.' There are some minor errors in word choice and collocation, such as 'loose their interest' (should be 'lose') and 'involving them into' (should be 'involving them in'). While you attempt to use more sophisticated vocabulary, some phrases feel slightly unnatural. To improve, focus on mastering common collocations and ensuring that your word forms are accurate in context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While your meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as 'Many a times' (should be 'Many times'), 'it help the students' (should be 'it helps'), and the sentence fragment 'Subsequently, ruining their careers and in absence of appropriate parental or mentor guidance.' These errors do not impede communication, but they do indicate a need for more careful proofreading, particularly regarding subject-verb agreement and sentence completion. Increasing the variety of complex structures while maintaining accuracy will help you achieve a higher score.

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

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