Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-13

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 5.5)

Having a time to study or work is one of the most widely discussed issues in modern society. All university students should have courses enable them experience studying overseas or working as trainer in their major. I believe the advantages of spending time either working or studying is more significant than disadvantages.

One of the most significant advantages of spending time studying or working is that making university graduates become more self-reliant. In other words, if they travel abroad in order to study or gain knowledge in their major by working as trainee, they will cope with different issues, which may sharpen their characteristics, without intervention from parents or relatives. for example, a study stablished at university of Japan about effect having period of time overseas on graduates, thy found most who travelling to study have self-reliance compared with peers who prefer staying in their hometown. Another considerable merit of this is graduates gain greater experience by studying abroad or working. To illustrate, when they enroll in different cultural environments and deal with more difficulties, this could raise awareness of various life aspects, which with no doubts building up experience. the third positive aspect of having time abroad is they can be able to manage financial matters, this means graduates should spend money wisely on their needs, which enabling them to be more cautious about budget.

However, there are several disadvantages of taking time in order to studying abroad or working, but changing behavior negatively and enrolling to worse groups could be the most effective ones. Firstly they may become more violent due to different backgrounds that they do not know about it. For instance, at first, higher students are trying to create relationships, unfortunately they make friend, who have bad manner, over the time they take their manners and become a part of personality. Secondly joining inappropriate people ,who sell drugs or harmful materials. Therefore, they could enter to the jail which destroy their opportunities to improve themselves,

In conclusion, although studying abroad has some drawbacks such as taking part in suspicious activity or changing manners to get more worse, I believe the advantages more greater because of experience, self-reliance and managing the expenses.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You address both the advantages and disadvantages and make your position clear: you believe the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. The points about self-reliance, experience and managing money are relevant, and you attempt to support them with examples. However, some ideas are less fully explained than others. The claim that students may become violent or join groups involved in drugs is presented as a disadvantage, but the connection to studying abroad or work placement is not convincingly established. The Japan study is also described vaguely, so it does not provide strong support. To strengthen the response, explain how each point follows from the placement and use specific, plausible examples, while keeping the comparison between benefits and drawbacks explicit.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure: an introduction, a paragraph on benefits, a paragraph on drawbacks and a conclusion. Sequencing phrases such as “In other words,” “To illustrate,” “Firstly” and “Secondly” help signal the development of ideas. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical, and several points are crowded into long sentences, particularly the discussion of financial management and the examples of negative influences. Some references are unclear, such as “this” in “this could raise awareness,” and the conclusion repeats the main points without clearly weighing them against the disadvantages. Use clearer links between claims and examples, and divide or reshape sentences so each paragraph develops a more focused line of reasoning.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a reasonable range of topic-related vocabulary, including “self-reliant,” “cultural environments,” “financial matters” and “suspicious activity.” There are also attempts at more formal expressions, such as “significant advantages” and “considerable merit.” However, inaccurate word choice, collocation and word forms are noticeable and sometimes make meaning less clear: “working as trainer,” “gain greater experience,” “worse groups” and “more greater” are not natural or precise in context. Spelling errors such as “stablished” and “thy” also detract from control. Aim for accurate, natural combinations rather than adding formal-sounding phrases; for example, describe students as completing a work placement or gaining practical experience.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional clauses (“if they travel abroad…”) and relative clauses (“issues, which may sharpen…”). This shows some range, but errors in sentence construction and control are frequent enough to affect clarity. Examples include “All university students should have courses enable them,” “the advantages… is,” and “which enabling them to be more cautious.” Several sentences also run together or use punctuation inaccurately, as in the financial-management point and the final sentence of the disadvantages paragraph. Work on clause structure, subject–verb agreement, verb forms and sentence boundaries. Editing each sentence for a clear subject and main verb would make your ideas easier to follow.

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