Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-10-04

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)

In the 21st century, many young individuals believe in taking one year drop from the academic after passing the school and before taking admission to university for gaining work experiencing and travelling purposes. They believe that this practice might have a positive outcomes in further studies. I would firmly agree to this idea of taking break of a year from studies. The various reasons for my viewpoint are discussed further along with relevant examples.

Several factors combine to ensure that taking a year out after school is better than simply trying to get admission in further university. The main reason behind this view is that student has to pay fees of university. To understand this many individuals and international students have pay their university fees by themselves without getting any help from their parents. This means that they have to earn money so that they could afford studies of university. To illustrate this, many individuals are being employed in various businesses in order to pay fees of a degree programs. Thus, it is more practical to get a job after school life and before takind admission in university.

Furthermore, exploring ourself hobbies and outside world is another is another benefit of this practice. In explanation, one can perform various activites and sports in order to know the potential in those fields. In other words, one can get to know the things in which a person is better in following a specific acivity. For instance, many individuals might be very good at sports and if they had get a chance and support from their family so they could have a great career in sports. Due to this, having a knowledge about ourselves potential in different hobbies could lead an individual toward bright future. Thus, it is very essential to get an information about the our proficiency in a hobby.

To conclude this discusssion, taking a drop of a year from studies will have benefits like indepen

dency and getting a chance of exploring ourselves. In my opinion, I firmly agree that one should take a break from academics.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the task partially, presenting a clear position agreeing with the prompt, but the development of ideas remains limited and under-developed. For example, the argument regarding financial independence is introduced but relies on repetitive phrasing and lacks deep exploration, stating simply that students must 'pay fees of university' without fully connecting how a gap year directly enhances subsequent academic performance. Similarly, the second body paragraph touches on exploring hobbies and personal potential, but the examples provided are vague and generalised ('many individuals might be very good at sports'). While all parts of the prompt are touched upon, the lack of fully elaborated main ideas and supporting evidence places the task response at this level.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is a discernible overall structure with an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion, but the essay lacks clear overall progression. Paragraphing is attempted, though the final conclusion cuts off abruptly. Cohesive devices are used, but they are frequently mechanical, repetitive, or clumsy, such as 'To understand this', 'To illustrate this', and 'In explanation'. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, as seen in phrases like 'exploring ourself hobbies and outside world is another is another benefit', which disrupts the logical flow between sentences and ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, but the range is limited and hindered by noticeable errors in word choice, form, and collocation. Examples include 'taking one year drop', 'academic' used as a noun, and 'work experiencing'. There are also awkward phrasings such as 'exploring ourself hobbies' and 'takind admission', along with repetitive lexical items throughout the text. While the meaning can generally be understood, these frequent lexical inaccuracies and word-formation errors restrict the vocabulary score.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, but attempts at complex structures are often faulty and accompanied by frequent errors in grammar and punctuation. Issues include article errors ('passing the school', 'afford studies of university'), subject-verb agreement problems ('student has to pay', 'international students have pay'), and prepositional or structural inaccuracies ('agree to this idea of taking break'). These frequent errors in grammar and punctuation can cause occasional difficulty for the reader and reflect a limited control of complex grammatical structures.

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