Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-09

IELTS Writing Task 2 question

All university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement.

Do you think the advantages of this would outweigh the disadvantages?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Student answer (Band 5.0)

We live in a modern era where activities in universities play a significant role on our mind and studies. Every university student's degree should consider a duration devoted to studying abroad or doing work experience. From my perspective, it's better to add some adventures in student's courses.

Firstly, the significant advantage is that while during studies, students also learn some useful things from abroad like their culture and the negative and positive aspects of other countries cultures. Secondly, undergraduates will become more confident if they have the opportunity to travel abroad due to studies. While during past times, students don't have enough technology to study more about their courses. For instance, they can explore new things and focus on their studies more accurately.

Thirdly, learners can also develop more interests related to their fields as well. In past, students cannot find solutions of their questions more easily. To illustrate, they can also get team-work experience and continue their degrees further with greater development. Moreover, it can also increase career opportunities for candidates because in other countries, you can gain more knowledge and experience wonderful things which leads to a good chance in future.

On the other hand, doing a work placement also gives a beneficial development because there is a good chance to do every work practically and watch everything by doing our own hands.

In conclusion, undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad because it can help students to learn about other cultures and also can help in gaining more knowledge.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 4.5

You address the general topic and give a positive view, mentioning cultural learning, confidence, career opportunities and practical experience. However, the question asks whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and this comparison is not clearly made: the work-placement point is introduced as a benefit, while no real disadvantage is discussed. Several ideas are also unclear or insufficiently explained, such as the references to students in the past lacking technology and finding answers less easily. The conclusion supports studying abroad but does not weigh both sides or clearly cover work placements. The response is 245 words, so it is five words below the required minimum; the 11 words copied from the prompt are excluded.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The response has a basic paragraph structure, with an introduction, a body containing supporting points, a contrasting transition and a conclusion. Sequencing words such as “Firstly,” “Secondly,” “Thirdly,” and “On the other hand” help signal the order of ideas. However, the progression is not consistently logical: the discussion of past technology interrupts the point about confidence, and the work-placement paragraph is not developed or connected to the comparison in the question. Some links are mechanical, and references such as “it” in “it can also increase career opportunities” are not fully clear. Group related reasons into focused paragraphs and use transitions to show how each point supports your overall judgement.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

You use some relevant vocabulary for the topic, including “undergraduates,” “career opportunities,” “work placement,” and “team-work experience.” This gives you enough language to communicate the broad subject, but the range is limited and several phrases are imprecise or unnatural, which sometimes makes the intended meaning difficult to follow. For example, “add some adventures in student's courses” does not clearly express a period abroad or a placement, and “watch everything by doing our own hands” is an awkward way to describe practical learning. There is also repetition of general terms such as “things” and “good.” Choose more precise academic collocations and avoid vague wording so your ideas are easier to understand.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and longer sentences, including clauses beginning with “because” and “if,” and most of the main ideas remain understandable. However, the range is limited, and complex sentences are often faulty. Examples include “while during studies,” which combines two time expressions, and “students don't have enough technology,” where the past-time context is not matched by the verb tense. There are also errors in articles, agreement and sentence construction, as in “Every university student's degree should consider” and “other countries cultures.” These recurring problems sometimes make the relationships between ideas unclear. Practise building accurate sentences with one clear main clause and carefully check tense, possessives and agreement.

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

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