Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-10-05

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, youth choose a break of a year between finishing school and starting university for the sake of work experience or to travel. Although this non-academic life experince benefits them, I partially agree with the statement because i think it may divert or loss their interest from education.

On one hand, a year break before graduation can sometime divert the interest of the students from education. So when they return to education, they cannot easily focus on studies. For example one of my close friend travel to France after his schooling, he attracted to the life style of people working there. So, instead of continuing his education he may move out of the country and start doing a job there.

Sometime, a break from the study also result in loss of interest in study.

For example my brother who is a an average student. After finishing his school start working with my father on hotel. Now after joining the university he dropped in two subjects and says he does not want to continue his study.

On the other hand, the experience of non-academic life also has some benefits associated with it. By working in practical field and exploring the world will help the individuals in selecting their proffesional field. Through their work experience they can easily realise that which field of the study has more job opportunities and better career growth as well. Suppose, a student after finishing his school start doing a internship in a hospital setting. Throught his entire internship he realized that the medical field has more jobs and a noble career. So he will choose to become a doctor.

In conclusion although non-academic experience help individual to choose right path for sucess, it may also divert their attention from the study. That,s the reason i partially agree with statement.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task and presents a clear position throughout, acknowledging both the negative and positive aspects of taking a gap year before university. Relevant ideas are introduced, but some are more fully developed than others. For example, the initial argument about students losing interest in education is supported by personal anecdotes, such as the friend travelling to France and the brother working at a hotel, but these examples tend to remain somewhat anecdotal rather than broadly elaborated. To reach a higher band, the response would need to extend and support all main ideas with more fully developed arguments that avoid over-generalisation.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement and a discernible progression of ideas, with a clear introduction and conclusion. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. The paragraphing is irregular, with overly short and fragmented paragraphs that disrupt the flow of the discussion. While basic cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand' and 'For example' are used to signal transitions, referencing is occasionally imprecise, and the overall logical organization between paragraphs could be smoother. To improve, the writer should ensure that paragraphing is used more appropriately to group related ideas together and employ a wider, more natural variety of transitional phrases.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task and attempts some less common items, such as 'professional field' and 'career growth'. However, there are noticeable spelling, word-choice, and word-form errors that detract from precision, including 'experince', 'proffesional', 'sucess', and awkward phrasing like 'dropped in two subjects' and 'working with my father on hotel'. Despite these inaccuracies, communication is not severely impeded. To move to a higher band, the vocabulary needs to show greater precision and stylistic control, accompanied by accurate spelling and word formation throughout.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt to use varied structures. However, there are noticeable grammatical errors regarding verb forms, articles, and capitalization, such as 'youth choose a break', 'i think', 'start working', 'a an average student', and missing commas or punctuation around introductory elements. These errors persist throughout the text, although they rarely impede overall communication. To achieve a higher level, the writer needs to demonstrate better control over complex sentence patterns and reduce the frequency of basic grammatical slips.

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