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 modern world, all university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying foreign or doing a work placement. In this essay, I will give my opinion about the university courses with some suitable examples,

On the first hand, these courses create opportunities for students, and they easily get jobs in foreign countries. Moreover, they can learn a lot of new things like language and culture, and they can improving your languages skills and understand the other country rolls of education and economy. Mostly students start learning languages after completing the bachelor's degree, when you start from university courses you easily understand the roll of grammar and sentence structure and do not face problems in the future. For example, in many modern schools they give the education about the foreign languages like German and England.

On the other hand, some students belong to the poor family, and they do not manage foreign education budget. Some courses are not related to the foreign education like Urdu and Punjabi courses, when you spent time on these courses you do not get the benefits and you waste the huge amount of money. Likewise, some students do not like foreign countries education, when you added these courses, they developed the problems for these students. For instance, private schools give education about the English language and culture but mostly student do not like this.

In conclusion, some students got the opportunities for these courses and other waste time and money. According to me advantages is more than the disadvantages. Governments should build the separate universities for these students, and not create the issues between teachers and students related to courses.

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.5
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.5

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of mandatory study abroad or work placements. However, the development of ideas is limited. While the essay presents a clear position, the arguments are somewhat superficial. For instance, the point about students from 'poor families' is relevant, but the claim that some courses like 'Urdu and Punjabi' are not related to foreign education is confusing and lacks logical depth. The conclusion is brief and does not fully synthesize the arguments presented. To reach a higher band, you should provide more detailed explanations and concrete examples that directly support your main points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or inaccurate. Phrases like 'On the first hand' (instead of 'On the one hand') and 'According to me' are used incorrectly. The progression of ideas is sometimes disjointed, particularly in the second paragraph where the transition between the benefits of language learning and the example of school subjects is abrupt. Referencing is occasionally unclear, making it difficult to track the subject matter throughout the paragraphs.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and variety required for a higher band. There are several instances of awkward word choice and collocation errors, such as 'foreign education budget' instead of 'financial constraints' and 'developed the problems' instead of 'faced difficulties'. The use of 'roll' instead of 'role' is a recurring spelling error that impacts the professional tone of the essay. You should focus on learning collocations and using more academic vocabulary to express complex ideas more accurately.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay relies heavily on simple sentence structures. While there are attempts at complex sentences, they are frequently marred by grammatical errors, such as 'they can improving your languages skills' and 'when you added these courses, they developed the problems'. Subject-verb agreement and pronoun consistency are inconsistent throughout the text (e.g., switching between 'they' and 'you'). Punctuation is generally functional, but the frequency of errors in basic grammar structures is noticeable and occasionally hinders the flow of the argument.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.