Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-11-14

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)

It is often argued by some people that students should work or spend sometime in abroad for taking experience of all courses in university time. Although some might consider it negative, I believe it to be extremely beneficial. Not only does it boost the confidence and provide real time experience but also benefits the country.

There are multiple benefits associated with this topic. Firstly, confidence can be considered as the leading benefit of this development. As learners spend some time in relative field and work with those people who have different mindset can increase the potential in students. Take the example of Japan, in which government decided either send students to abroad or organizations in their own country according to their field during course work, so it takes guidance and improves their own courage. Thus, this mega benefit I believe has the potential to make this development a positive one.

Secondly, apart from confidence, real time experince can be labelled as another benefit. As students learn about which type of work is needed in future and which type of work is in great demand. For instance, a survey conducted in universities of Germeny revealed that 90% of the people believed learners should gain real time experience during studies it provides the . Hence, real time experience can be considered as the most significant advantage, giving this development a positive outlook.

Finally, students work during studies or study abroad provides advantages to their country. As students are no dependent on the society and add some money to their country economy.

To sum up, even though work during studies have certain drawbacks too, I believe that the benefit it brings in terms of increase the confidence, real time experience and benefits to the country can make this development an overall positive one.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your position is clear: you believe the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, and you identify confidence, practical experience and benefits to the country as reasons. These points are relevant, and the Japan and Germany examples show an attempt to support them. However, the response addresses the comparison only partly: the disadvantages are mentioned briefly in the introduction and conclusion but are not explained, so the reader cannot assess why the advantages outweigh them. Some supporting ideas are also unclear or insufficiently developed, particularly the claim that students’ work benefits the national economy. Explain the mechanism and give a specific example. Develop each main point with clearer reasoning and ensure the examples directly support it.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a recognisable overall structure, with an introduction, three body paragraphs signalled by “Firstly,” “Secondly,” and “Finally,” and a concluding summary. This makes the main line of argument easy to identify. However, progression within paragraphs is sometimes unclear: the Japan example is difficult to connect to the claim about confidence, while the Germany survey sentence breaks off at “it provides the .” Some linking phrases, such as “Thus” and “Hence,” announce conclusions without making the reasoning between ideas clear. The final body paragraph is also very brief compared with the others. Use clearer topic sentences, explain how each example supports its point, and connect the ideas with precise references rather than relying mainly on sequencing words.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

You use a relevant range of topic vocabulary, including “confidence,” “real time experience,” “field,” and “demand,” and you attempt more formal expressions such as “associated with” and “significant advantage.” This is enough to communicate the general argument, but word choice and collocation are often inaccurate or repetitive. For example, “spend sometime in abroad” and “benefits to their country” do not express the intended ideas naturally, while “mega benefit” is too informal for this essay. There are also spelling errors, including “experince” and “Germeny,” and repeated use of “benefit” and “experience.” Choose more precise academic phrases, check spelling, and vary repeated vocabulary while keeping the meaning clear.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You attempt both simple and complex sentence forms, including the contrast in “Although some might consider it negative” and the paired structure “Not only does it… but also…”. However, complex sentences are often not controlled successfully, and errors sometimes make relationships between ideas difficult to follow. For example, “As learners spend some time… can increase the potential” has no clear grammatical subject for “can increase,” and “students work during studies or study abroad provides” has a subject–verb agreement problem. Other issues include “students are no dependent” and the incomplete construction ending “it provides the .” Practise building complete clauses, checking agreement and articles, and proofreading punctuation. More accurate control of these structures would make your reasoning easier to understand.

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