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)

Future Management

Among all the students , the majority of students always want to go abroad for different aims . Some have purpose of getting experience of real life and the other have target of traveling the world . These both type of students have completely different financial conditions .

Those who always want to go out for traveling are the students who have a strong background to support them and fulfill there all there needs . These students have not much concern with study as they have every thing they need in there life . So , in my opinion it causes too much loss of there education as they are already weak in there studies and the continuous break of one year in there study causes unfulfilled damage to there education which they could not recover easily after returning .

The other type of students which want to go out for experience are very hardworking students . They have aim of becoming successful and they want to gain real life experience in there early life . They face no worries in there future when they handle there house and they have to make there own decisions . I agree with this that the students face real benefits when they return to study as they get knowledge about the reality of life and they do more hard work to stay at ease in the future .

Same thing happened in my hometown as a boy who was good in study but was financially very weak went to other city to visit relatives and he came to know the reality of the life to a large extent and after returning he done his work with much great efficiency and now he is a bank manager and is enjoying his life too much .

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing the benefits of a gap year, but the development is somewhat unbalanced. You distinguish between students who travel for leisure and those who seek work experience, which is a good approach. However, the argument regarding students who travel for leisure is somewhat tangential, as the prompt specifically asks about the benefits of non-academic life when returning to education. The discussion on the 'hardworking' students is more relevant but remains a bit general. To improve, ensure that every paragraph directly links back to how the experience specifically aids the student's return to university, rather than focusing on their financial background or general life success.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is quite mechanical and repetitive. For example, you frequently use 'These students' and 'they' to start sentences, which makes the flow feel a bit stilted. The transition between the introduction and the body paragraphs is clear, but the logical progression within paragraphs could be improved by using a wider variety of linking words (e.g., 'consequently', 'furthermore', 'in contrast') to connect ideas more fluidly. Paragraphing is present, but the internal cohesion needs more variety to reach a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, but it is quite limited and repetitive. You rely heavily on basic terms like 'students', 'study', 'life', and 'experience'. There are also some issues with word choice and collocation, such as 'unfulfilled damage' (which is not a standard collocation) and 'do more hard work' (which is better expressed as 'work more diligently'). To improve, try to incorporate more precise academic vocabulary related to education and personal development. You should also focus on using collocations correctly to ensure your writing sounds more natural and professional.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

There is a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but the accuracy is inconsistent. You have frequent errors with articles (e.g., 'in my hometown as a boy'), subject-verb agreement, and word forms (e.g., 'he done his work' instead of 'he did his work'). Additionally, there are several punctuation errors, such as unnecessary spaces before commas. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to distract the reader. To improve, focus on mastering basic verb tenses and ensuring that your sentence structures are grammatically sound before attempting more complex forms.

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

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