Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-10-29

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 4.0)

most of the teenager to take a year break out between complete school education and beginning in order to obtain work experience or to travel. in my point of views, we should take the break after the school because we learn different thing, how to survive in university life.

firstly, when we take a year break , a gap help young people to gain experience and practical skills. we learn how to work with the team and how to solve the problems. FOR

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 3.0

Your position is identifiable: “we should take the break after the school,” and you give relevant reasons, including gaining practical skills and learning teamwork and problem-solving. However, the response addresses the topic only minimally. It does not explain how work or travel benefits students when they return to education, and it gives no specific example or developed supporting explanation. The final “FOR” also leaves the argument unfinished. The response is 83 words, below the required 250, so there is not enough development to answer the question fully. To improve, state clearly how a gap year helps with university study, support each reason with an example, and complete the essay with a conclusion.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 4.0

There is a basic attempt to organise the response: you state your view first and then introduce a reason with “firstly.” This gives the reader a simple direction, and the ideas about experience, practical skills, teamwork and problem-solving are related. However, the response stops before the argument can progress, and “FOR” is an incomplete ending rather than a connected point. The opening sentence is also difficult to follow, so the relationship between the general topic and your opinion is not clearly established. Use separate paragraphs for your position, developed reasons and conclusion, and connect each point explicitly—for example, explain how teamwork skills would help with university assignments.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “work experience,” “practical skills,” “team” and “solve the problems.” These choices make the general subject understandable. However, the range is narrow, and several phrases are inaccurate or unnatural, such as “a year break out,” “different thing” and “how to survive in university life.” These expressions limit precision and make parts of the response harder to interpret. Build a small set of topic-specific phrases, such as “take a gap year,” “develop independence” and “adjust to university life,” and check whether nouns should be singular or plural. More precise vocabulary would also help you explain the link between non-academic experience and later study.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 4.5

You attempt both simple statements and a longer sentence explaining what students may learn, such as “we learn how to work with the team and how to solve the problems.” The basic meaning is often recoverable, but grammatical control is inconsistent. For example, “most of the teenager to take” lacks a correctly formed verb, while “when we take a year break, a gap help” has problems with the clause structure and subject–verb agreement. Capitalisation and sentence boundaries are also inconsistent, as seen in the lowercase sentence openings and the isolated “FOR.” Practise complete subject–verb sentences, agreement, articles and punctuation. Then add a few controlled complex sentences to explain cause and effect.

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

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