Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-11-01
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 tru that many young students take gap year before starting there university after completing there school education . The reason mostly of them give is that they want to gain some professinoal experience or they just want travel around after 12 years of constant education to relax thier minds and physical healths .Moreover , they think that the experience from those 1 or two years will be beneficial for them when they'll return back to studies . In this essay i will try my best to explain that wether this is beneficial or not for one's future education .
There are two main types of students which take year out after school and both of them have diffrent thoughts in there minds .
Starting with those students who think they need some professinoal experience before starting there universities . Wether they want to be financially strong or they just want to enhance there resume for a particullar field they want to study in future . These are types of student who really care about there future and belonging. for instance if there is sudent who wants to study hotel management as his main subject in higher education and he takes a gap year to work in a resturant just to gain knowledge for his specific field this student is truly on the right track in addition he can makes enough money for his dilay usage . after his gap year when he starts is education he has enough konwledge of his field that he wont need as much attention as other students .
After that comes the second cetegory students who are just frustrated by studies and they just run away from studies these type of student dont perform very well when they again start there education since they have spent all of there time travelling around and chilling with there friends and family further more they didn't even touched there books in all that time intervals which results in poor performance in future life.
Lastly i prefer that one should not take a year out unless there is a vaild and natural reason . Becouse for most of students it is hard to perform really good after taking gap year since you mind is now trained for other irrellivent activities moreover your focous from studies is now diverted .
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
You address the question and give a recognisable position: your conclusion advises against a gap year unless there is a valid reason. The discussion of work experience is relevant and supported with a hotel-management example, explaining how practical knowledge could help a student on returning to study. However, the travel option is not explored as a possible benefit, and the second category is presented mainly as students avoiding study, rather than considering how travel or rest might support later education. Some claims, such as that these students will need less attention, are asserted rather than explained. Develop both sides of the prompt more evenly and make the extent of your agreement explicit from the introduction onward.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The response has an overall structure, moving from an introduction to two categories of students and then a conclusion. Paragraphing helps distinguish the work-experience argument from the less favourable view of students who take time away from study. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes difficult to follow: the long hotel-management example combines several points, and the final paragraph introduces a broad conclusion without fully weighing the earlier arguments. Linking phrases such as “Starting with,” “After that,” and “further more” are noticeable and sometimes mechanical. Use clearer topic sentences, divide long sequences into manageable sentences, and connect each example directly to the claim it supports.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.0
You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “professional experience,” “enhance their resume,” “higher education,” and “performance.” This gives you enough language to communicate the main ideas, but the range is limited and several spelling and word-choice errors make the writing less clear or natural. Examples include “professinoal,” “particullar,” “dilay usage,” and “irrellivent activities.” Some expressions are also imprecise, such as “future education” and “natural reason.” Aim to check spelling carefully and choose more precise collocations. For instance, describe a student as gaining “practical experience” and explain how this develops “skills relevant to their chosen field.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0
You attempt both simple and more complex sentences, including conditional structures such as “if there is student who wants to study hotel management…” and clauses explaining consequences. However, complex sentences are often faulty, and errors in articles, agreement, verb forms, and sentence boundaries can make the reader work to understand your meaning. For example, “he can makes enough money” has an incorrect verb form, while “you mind is now trained” has an agreement error. Several sentences also run together, particularly the hotel-management example. Practise building accurate sentences with one main idea, then add subordinate clauses; check articles, subject–verb agreement, and punctuation when editing.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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