Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-06

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)

In an era characterised by rapid social and technological transformation, the emergence of studying abroad and get a work placement has become increasingly widespread.Although this trend offers a range of substantial benefits, it also gives rise to several noteworthy challenges. This essay will examine both the perspectives before explaining why i believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

One of the most compelling advantages for undergraduate students to study abroad is that it enables students to gain practical knowledge about the competitive world job market.This can encourage students to work hard .In addition to this, students can acquire a wide range of skills with a greater perspective of views. For instance, a student studying in Germany may gain exposure to advanced technology and innovative teaching methods. Equally important, it can significantly increase the experience of a job so that the students become familiar to the workplaceenvironment at an early age.

Despite these undeniable merits, this addition of the time period is by no means devoid of drawbacks.The most pressing concern is about the expenses the guardian has to spend to send the student to the abroad because it can lead to the financial problems as everybody cannot afford abroad education.Furthermore, another significant drawback is that some people consider doing work placement during undergraduate program can be the reason of distraction and will not be able to focus on studies.They believe in improving and learning new skills rather than doing a job.

Taking everything into consideration, this phenomenon represents a double-edged sword, bringing with it both remarkable opportunities and significant challenges.I am convinced that advantages ultimately outweigh the other side due to the positive impacts it creates on a student.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, providing both advantages and disadvantages before clearly stating a position. The ideas are relevant, such as gaining job market experience and the financial burden on families. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited. For example, the point about 'distraction' is mentioned but not fully explored or supported with a concrete example. To reach a higher band, the arguments need more depth and specific evidence to justify the claims made. The position is clear throughout, but the supporting arguments remain at a somewhat superficial level.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is logically organised into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. Cohesive devices such as 'In addition to this', 'Despite these undeniable merits', and 'Taking everything into consideration' are used to guide the reader through the argument. However, some transitions feel slightly mechanical, and there are minor issues with referencing, such as 'the abroad' which is grammatically awkward and disrupts the flow. The progression of ideas is generally clear, but the connection between sentences could be smoother to achieve a more natural, sophisticated flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, with some attempts at less common items like 'double-edged sword' and 'rapid social and technological transformation'. However, there are several instances of imprecise word choice and awkward collocations, such as 'get a work placement' (should be 'undertake' or 'secure'), 'familiar to the workplaceenvironment' (should be 'familiar with'), and 'the abroad' (should be 'abroad'). These errors indicate a lack of precision in word usage, which prevents the response from reaching a higher band. Expanding the range of academic collocations would be beneficial.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. While the meaning is generally clear, there are frequent grammatical errors, such as 'the emergence of studying abroad and get a work placement' (parallelism error), 'i believe' (capitalisation error), and 'some people consider doing work placement... can be the reason of distraction' (missing 'that' and awkward phrasing). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with missing spaces after periods in several places. These errors do not impede communication, but they occur frequently enough to limit the score. More attention to subject-verb agreement and sentence structure is needed.

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