Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-09-30

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)

Nowadays, taking a break between finishing school and starting university in order to gain work experience or to travel is becoming an increasingly important issue in many parts of the world. While some people believe that It can cause negative effects to the students, I completely agree with the view that students should travel or get real work experience in between of their school and college life.

There are several reasons why I hold this view. The primary reason is that students will get to know about finances and resource management. This is

because students will learn how to manage their expenses day to day activity with minimum resources. For example, if a student works for a year before university, they can understand how real workplace and projects function. Therefore, traveling and experiencing before starting new journey is crucial.

Another important reason is that traveling allows students to improve valuable soft skills. In other words, communication with strangers and making decision by themselves is the skill that student will only learn by exploring new things. For instance, traveling alone forces young people to communicate with locals and make independent decisions to avoid unnecessary expenses and better resource management. As a result, students will be more confident and motivated without any fear.

In conclusion, although attending university directly after completing the school may have some merit, I believe that students should explore the real world and travel because they will learn resource management and soft skills which is very essential for individual lives.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by presenting a clear position agreeing with the prompt and discussing benefits such as financial management and soft skills. Ideas are generally relevant, though the development tends to be slightly repetitive and over-generalized. For instance, the discussion around resource management in paragraph two mixes financial awareness with workplace functioning rather than distinct points. Nevertheless, a clear stance is maintained throughout the essay. The response meets the criteria for Band 6.0 as it addresses all parts of the task, though some ideas are under-developed or lack full elaboration with concrete personal examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion, as well as distinct body paragraphs. Logical progression is generally visible through markers such as 'The primary reason is' and 'Another important reason is'. However, some cohesive devices feel slightly mechanical or repetitive ('This is because', 'As a result'). Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct points. Referencing is mostly clear, although minor awkwardness exists in transitional phrases. This performance aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully incorporating terms such as 'resource management', 'independent decisions', and 'unnecessary expenses'. However, there are noticeable inaccuracies in word choice and collocation, such as 'experience of non-academic life' used awkwardly in the prompt context, or phrasing like 'in between of their school' and 'making decision'. While the vocabulary attempts less common expressions, these slips limit the score to a Band 6.0, as the lexical resource is minimally sufficient and occasionally imprecise.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The essay features a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating some control over clause structures (e.g., 'While some people believe that...'). However, there are several grammatical errors and awkward structures throughout the text, such as missing articles ('completing the school'), pluralisation issues ('making decision'), and prepositional errors ('in between of'). Despite these errors, they rarely impede communication, allowing the reader to follow the argument without major difficulty. This places the grammar firmly at a Band 6.0 level.

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

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