Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-10-03

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)

It is often argued by some people that it is important to take a gap year after finisihing school education and entering in the university life for practical experiences. Although some might be disagree with this notion. Meanwhile, I completely agree with this statement not only because of practical experience and freshness of mind from stressfull life, but also for skills that students learn from actual life.

Stress becomes the essential component of students life due to the parental expectations and examination dificulties. Students spend most of the time in stress when they do preparation of exams, and this thing give them trauma. For shifting this mindset it is necessary to travel with friends and enjoy life as well. For instance, students prepare a trip of northern areas and spend time their, they lear different aspects of life and gain actual experience that should be mandatory for sucessful life.

Skills are mendatory for becoming a successful person in the future and for bearing the expenses of their family in professional life. Undergraduates mind is flagile in their teenage, and they learn practical skills like preparing food, earning money and good aspects of life in easy way. That's the main reason of taking a gap year between school and university life.

In conclusion, I believe that practical experiences, freshness of mind from stressfull life and skills that are necessary for future life are the main reasons for taking a gap between education of school and university, that should be give benifit in the future.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the task only partially, presenting a clear overall position of complete agreement, but the supporting ideas remain limited and under-developed. For example, while the writer mentions escaping a stressful academic environment and gaining practical skills, these points are supported with vague generalisations and repetitive assertions rather than deep elaboration or concrete examples. Phrases like 'students prepare a trip of northern areas and spend time their' attempt to illustrate the idea, but they lack sufficient depth to fully explore how non-academic life benefits a student returning to education. To move higher, the response would need to extend each main point with thorough explanations and more relevant, fully articulated examples that directly tie the gap year experience back to academic readiness.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some organisation present, dividing the response into an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion, but overall progression is hindered by mechanical or repetitive cohesive devices. The introduction opens abruptly with fragmented phrasing like 'Although some might be disagree with this notion. Meanwhile, I completely agree...', where transitional links are used inaccurately. Furthermore, referencing is sometimes unclear, and the internal links between sentences rely heavily on repetitive repetition of concepts such as 'stressful life' and 'practical experiences' rather than smooth logical transitions. Paragraphing is attempted, but the central arguments lack clear thematic progression. Improving cohesion requires a more varied and accurate use of logical connectors, alongside clearer pronoun referencing and better-managed paragraph boundaries.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to convey the basic stance, though noticeable errors cause some difficulty for the reader. There are multiple spelling and word-form errors throughout the text, such as 'finisihing', 'stressfull', 'dificulties', 'sucessful', 'mendatory', and 'benifit'. Additionally, some word choices and collocations feel unnatural or imprecise, such as 'entering in the university life' and 'Undergraduates mind is flagile'. While the writer attempts to use less common vocabulary like 'mandatory' and 'fragile', these are marred by spelling mistakes and awkward usage. To achieve a higher band, the writer must expand their lexical repertoire, ensure accurate spelling of common academic words, and demonstrate better control over word forms and collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response demonstrates a very limited range of structures, with frequent errors that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. While there are a few simple sentences that are clear, attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty, seen in awkward constructions like 'It is often argued by some people that it is important to take a gap year after finisihing school education and entering in the university life for practical experiences.' There are also noticeable errors in prepositions, verb patterns, and agreement, such as 'some might be disagree', 'spend time their', and 'that should be give benifit'. Punctuation is basic, and run-on structures occasionally appear. To progress, the writer needs to incorporate a wider variety of error-free complex sentence structures, paying closer attention to auxiliary verbs, prepositions, and clausal integration.

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

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