Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-08-20

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)

Numerous youth choose to take a gap year between completing school and starting higher education in order to explore several new things or to travel. The experience of non-academic life offers benefits the people when they come back to studies. I completely agree with this statement and this essay will discuss why dropping out for a year from academics can be advantageous for students.

Students obtain opportunity to explore their hobbies and interest in order to be calm and free from busy life. These activities help them to reset their mindset and start fresh from beginning. Additionally, several research shows that a mentally stable student can achieve more rather than a stressed one. Basically, mental peace is also crucial for student to be good at academics and a drop year can assist in it.

Furthermore, they can learn few new skills which might support in their education as well as in practical life. Learning fresh competitive skills play a crucial role in student life to be more wise academically. For instance, an IT drop out student can learn coding to improve coding skills in order to score more score academically and as well as it also helps to get job in real world. Nowadays, companies focus on practical and creative knowledge and getting experience of creative knowledge in leave year support to get job on time.

In conclusion, I firmly believe taking a leave year from graduation can be fruitful from many aspects for students. Exploring real world experience and learning new skills are few beneficial activities which helps student to be more productive and creative.

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, focusing on mental well-being and skill acquisition. However, the development is somewhat limited; for instance, the example of an 'IT drop out student' is slightly confusing and lacks depth. While the main points are clear, the essay would benefit from more detailed explanations and more specific, real-world examples to fully support the arguments. The conclusion effectively restates the position, but the overall development remains at a general level rather than a fully extended one.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear central topic. Cohesive devices such as 'Additionally,' 'Furthermore,' and 'In conclusion' are used to guide the reader through the argument. However, the use of these devices is sometimes mechanical, and there are instances where the flow between sentences feels slightly disjointed. Referencing is generally clear, but the progression of ideas could be smoother. The paragraphing is appropriate, and the overall structure is sufficient to follow the writer's train of thought without difficulty.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task, allowing the writer to express their ideas clearly. There are attempts to use less common vocabulary, such as 'advantageous,' 'productive,' and 'mentally stable.' However, there are some inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'dropping out for a year' (which usually implies leaving a course permanently) and 'score more score.' The range is sufficient to communicate the message, but it lacks the precision and flexibility required for a higher band score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as 'several research shows' (subject-verb agreement), 'obtain opportunity' (missing article), and 'in leave year' (missing article). These errors do not impede communication, but they are noticeable. The control over punctuation and sentence construction is inconsistent, which prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. More attention to articles, pluralization, and verb agreement would significantly improve the accuracy.

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

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