Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-08-28
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)
Many young students choose to take a year out between finishing school and starting university in order to gain work experience. This experience also offers benefits to the individual when they return to education. In my perspective, if I ever get a chance to return to that time, I will also take a year gap for gaining work experience. Because I fully agree to this that work experience offers huge benefits to student.
If I give you examples from my own life, I never took a year gap between my school and university life just for not wasting my year. And also because I was unaware of the benefits gap year can give to people who takes gap and get experience. I found many of my university mates who have got experience from different places during their university gap year and they have literally got much more extensive and useful knowledge related to our degree through which they got information about d9ifferent things and then they used that knowledge in their academic year and got higher marks than mine.. Hence I thought taking a gap year and gaining work experience plays and important role in building person's growth and help them in their academic life. So I prefer to take gap year so that we can gain knowledge from the experience. I think it will be very beneficial for the personal growth and as well as for the academic well being of many students.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0
The response addresses the prompt by expressing a clear position in favor of a gap year. However, the development of ideas is limited. The essay is under the 250-word minimum, which negatively impacts the depth of the argument. While you provide a personal example, the explanation of how work experience translates into academic success is somewhat superficial. To improve, you should expand on the specific skills gained during a gap year—such as time management, financial literacy, or professional networking—and explicitly link these to university performance. The current argument relies heavily on personal anecdotes rather than a broader analysis of the topic.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into two paragraphs, but the progression of ideas is somewhat repetitive. You use basic cohesive devices like 'Hence' and 'So', but the flow between sentences feels mechanical. The paragraphing is insufficient; a standard IELTS essay should have a clear introduction, at least two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. The lack of clear paragraph structure makes the argument feel like a single block of text rather than a well-structured essay. To improve, ensure each paragraph focuses on a single main idea and use a wider variety of linking words to connect your arguments more fluidly.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally functional but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. You rely on simple phrases like 'huge benefits', 'different places', and 'different things'. There are also some awkward collocations and minor errors, such as 'd9ifferent' (typo) and 'building person's growth'. To reach a higher band, you should aim to use more academic collocations and precise terminology. For instance, instead of 'huge benefits', consider 'substantial advantages' or 'invaluable professional insights'. Expanding your vocabulary to include more sophisticated, topic-specific terms will significantly enhance the quality of your writing.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede the flow. Examples include 'I fully agree to this that', 'people who takes gap', and 'help them in their academic life' (subject-verb agreement). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma usage. While the meaning is generally clear, the frequency of these errors prevents the essay from reaching a higher band. Focus on mastering basic subject-verb agreement and refining your use of complex sentence structures to ensure they are grammatically sound.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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