Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-03
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)
The experience of practical life between high school and higher education is inceasingly common among young students. Some believe that it is not beneficial for their academic success while I contend that it is widely practical, mainly because it offers a deep knowledge on their future career and fosters the self-development
One of the most significant reason why I believe that ungraduate students should have a phase to experience work or travel is the fulfilment of the choosing a future job. Most youngesters lead to discover their path through experiencing various skills in order to develop their personal competencies and recieve high qualifications. Recent study was conducted in Norway showed that learners who decided to take a break before college are well-perforemed in chosing their specialty. As a result, it enfoster the sense of accomplishment and overall the satisfaction of the rest of their educational development.
Moreover, the experience of non-academic life among younger students offers a sense of responsibilty and freedom in terms of the educational tution fees. Most developed countries requeir educational taxes before applying in university. A particular illustration of this is individuals when experiencing having a job at young age release the burden of high taxes that could not be paid especially parents whoin the rural countries
In conclusion, although a non academic stop offers several drawbacks as it leads to unemployement, it also s the self development and facilitate the academic path for both the educational and economic system.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position in favor of a gap year. However, the development of ideas is inconsistent. While the first body paragraph attempts to link work experience to career choice, the second paragraph is confusing, particularly the argument regarding 'educational taxes,' which is unclear and lacks logical relevance to the prompt. Furthermore, the essay is under the 250-word minimum, which negatively impacts the depth of the response. The conclusion introduces a new, contradictory point about unemployment that was not previously discussed, which is a structural weakness.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into paragraphs, but the flow of ideas is often disjointed. While some cohesive devices are used (e.g., 'Moreover', 'In conclusion'), their application is sometimes mechanical or misused, such as the transition into the second paragraph. The referencing is occasionally unclear, making it difficult for the reader to follow the progression of the argument. Paragraphing is present, but the internal structure of the paragraphs lacks the logical development required for a higher band score.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks precision and sophistication. There are several instances of awkward word choices and spelling errors, such as 'inceasingly', 'youngesters', 'well-perforemed', and 'requeir'. The student attempts to use academic vocabulary, but these attempts are often marred by incorrect collocations or non-standard phrasing, such as 'educational tution fees' and 'rural countries'. To improve, the student should focus on using words in their correct context and ensuring accurate spelling.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but grammatical errors are frequent and occasionally impede clarity. Examples include subject-verb agreement issues ('Recent study was conducted... showed that'), incorrect preposition usage, and awkward phrasing ('Most youngesters lead to discover their path'). Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with missing commas and incorrect sentence boundaries. While the meaning is generally understandable, the high frequency of errors prevents the response from reaching a higher band.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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