Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · IELTS Summit Mastery · 2026-11-03

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 6.0)

Everything in our lives comes with its pros and cons but this is us who have to choose what path are we ready to struggle on and stick to our decisions.

If you ask me, absolutely agree with this, specially because I also took a year off after my high school and before starting my university. I did a lot of traveling in that time which helped me learn and improve myself in every aspect of life.

I did do some social welfare work to gain some experience. I believe money should not always be the purpose of your life and education can come in a lot of forms.

When I was travelling, I was being educated about various things around me. Such as; i got to learn how can one manage an enitre trip from booking to keeping record of finace. I got to learn how to stay calm in times when normally one would panic. I was educated on different cultures and their traditions. Meeting new people and experincing life through their eyes have really changed my prespective to life and the way I think now.

When I started my university, I found myself to be a totally different person in a very good way and this is not something I only felt but they people close to me also acknowledged it. I was more understanding, listened more in compare to talking. I evovled and took my sweet time to read the room. I resumed my studies with a fresh mind and soul.

The only con I felt was that the people I finished my high school with moved forward in their lives in terms of worldly education and some looked down on me to be experiencing life my way. Though, that is also a negative part from their end.

To conclude my passage, for me it is always the right decision to take some time off for your mind and soul development if that is something you can afford.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

Your position is clear from the outset: “absolutely agree,” and the conclusion reinforces that taking time away can support personal development. You address both travel and gaining experience, with relevant examples such as managing a trip, staying calm under pressure, and learning about other cultures. These details make your personal account persuasive. However, the discussion focuses much more on your own transformation than on explaining specifically how non-academic experience benefits someone when they return to university. The social welfare work is mentioned but not developed, and the disadvantage of falling behind peers is only briefly considered. To strengthen the response, explain the link between skills gained during the year and academic performance, and extend the less-developed points with clear reasons or examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.5

The response has a coherent overall shape: an introduction states your view, the middle paragraphs describe your experiences and their effects, and the final paragraph restates your conclusion. The sequence from travel experiences to your return to university is generally easy to follow. Some connections, however, are abrupt or unclear. For example, “I did do some social welfare work” appears without a clear link to the preceding point, while “Such as;” introduces examples with awkward punctuation and interrupts the flow. The paragraph about the disadvantage also shifts quickly from your experience to a judgement about others. Use clearer topic sentences and connect each example explicitly to your main argument; vary linking phrases rather than relying on repeated “I got to learn” constructions.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range to describe personal growth and experience, including “manage an entire trip,” “stay calm,” “different cultures,” and “fresh mind and soul.” These phrases help communicate your examples and viewpoint. There are also attempts at more expressive language, such as “read the room,” though this is informal for an academic essay. Several spelling and word-choice errors reduce precision, including “prespective,” “experincing,” “finace,” and “evovled.” Some expressions are also unnatural or imprecise, such as “worldly education” and “in every aspect of life.” Aim for accurate spelling and more formal, specific phrasing. For instance, describe the skills gained as practical planning, intercultural awareness, or emotional resilience, rather than relying on broad claims.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt a mix of simple and more complex sentences, and most of your meaning remains understandable. The sentence beginning “When I started my university” shows an effort to explain a change over time, while the final conditional phrase, “if that is something you can afford,” adds useful qualification. Some grammatical errors remain, however. In the opening, “this is us who have to choose what path are we ready to struggle on” has faulty clause structure and word order. “Meeting new people and experincing life through their eyes have really changed” also has a subject–verb agreement problem, and “I was being educated” is an awkward tense choice for a completed experience. Review question word order in embedded clauses, agreement with gerund subjects, and consistent past-tense narration. More accurate control of these patterns would make your varied sentences clearer.

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