Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-10-17

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)

Some Students take a break from education after completing their school and spend some time on a practical work or visit other countries. I partially agree with that because sometimes a little break can lose their interest in studies if they get paid for this.

On the one hand, students can improve their communication skills and increase their exposure. For example, individual who visits several countries or worked in any reputed company that will help him to develop interpersonal and conversational skills before starting the university. So when they enter in university, they can easily convey their message to others in a better way. Furthermore, their thinking capabilities are far more better then other students because of having conversation in international level where they get a chance to meet with multicultural and skilled people who share their educational and career experience.

On the other hand, Although getting practical experience is beneficial, some time it effects on their interest in education. Its a human nature, once the people start earning they do not take interest in studies anymore until they work to hands on practical experience and don't get paid of this because salary will make them less dependent from their parents which make their habits to get more salary so they can meet their needs of daily life. For example, students who start working and earning they used to buy things they want so when they thing of again study they realised that earning will stop and again they will have to depend on their parents which make them dependent again.

Conclusion, if students basic purpose is to gain knowledge then its beneficial not to earn money and meet their needs.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is that you partially agree, and you address both potential benefits and drawbacks of a year out. The first body paragraph gives relevant benefits, including improved communication and exposure to different cultures; the second explains how earning money may reduce motivation to return to study. However, the position is not fully consistent: the conclusion focuses on avoiding paid work rather than clearly restating how far you agree with the overall claim that non-academic experience benefits students. Several points are also broad or insufficiently explained, such as the claim that students’ thinking is “far more better” than others’. Develop one or two examples more clearly and connect each point directly to readiness for university to make the response more complete and convincing.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, two contrasting body paragraphs, and a conclusion. “On the one hand” and “On the other hand” help signal the change in viewpoint, and the ideas generally follow a sensible order. However, some links are mechanical, and the long sentence beginning “Its a human nature” contains several connected claims that are difficult to follow. References such as “that” and “this” are not always clear, while the final “Conclusion” sentence does not fully draw together the two sides of the argument. Use shorter sentences to separate cause and effect, make references explicit, and ensure the conclusion summarises your position rather than introducing a narrower point.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “practical experience,” “interpersonal,” “multicultural,” and “career experience.” These choices show an attempt to discuss education and work beyond basic terms. However, the range is limited and several word choices or collocations are inaccurate, which sometimes makes the meaning less clear: “increase their exposure,” “thinking capabilities,” and “work to hands on practical experience” do not express the intended ideas naturally. There are also repeated references to “students,” “earning,” and “interest.” Build a more precise range for discussing maturity, independence, and motivation, and check common word partnerships. For example, “gain exposure to different cultures” is more natural than “increase their exposure.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentences, including a conditional idea in “once the people start earning” and a relative clause about people who share experience. However, complex sentences are often difficult to control, and errors in agreement, articles, verb forms, and sentence boundaries occur throughout. For instance, “individual who visits several countries or worked” shifts between present and past forms, while “students … they realised” has inconsistent agreement and tense. The sentence beginning “Its a human nature” also runs through several ideas without clear punctuation. Practise building accurate sentences with one main idea, then add subordinate clauses only when the structure is secure. Review subject–verb agreement, articles, and consistent tense.

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