Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-07

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 this modernized and globalized era, it is the responsibility of university to make there students knowledgeable and experienced in practical world. It is generally expected that all university undergraduate course should include a particular period to study abroad or work placement for practical knowledge. I believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. These essay tends to discuss both the merits and demerits.

There are a lot of upper hands of including period for studying abroad and working practically. The foremost one is, it help to develop skills like leadership, teamwork and communication, In recent days companies generally tend hire employee with skills rather than theoretical knowledge. If university offer a duration of time to student to work in placements or do internships it will allow them to gain experience in communication and build there confidence for working and managing tasks in group. Secondly, this allow young individuals to become independent and gain experience in managing life as well as studies simultaneously. Education system including study abroad period for students would help them to become independent for their future they can learn time management with the same. This would expose and individual to real world, student would get to learn life lessons in real. To illustrate this, parents in India often sent their children to study abroad after there graduation. Moving abroad teaches them to do all their household chores, part times and studies all by there own making them independent at early age.

Moreover, universities including timespan for abroad studies or work placement would allow them to gain practical knowledge of what they learnt theoretically. This can improve there academic performance as they can be clear with the concepts. Subjects like medicines require practical exposure. if students are given work placement they can learn the use of medicine practically.

On the flip hand there are also demerits of the inclusion of time span for studying abroad or work placement. Students would feel unnecessary stress and burden of work as well as academics. If there would be involvement of studies as well as work then student would not be able to concentrate on one single task. To illustrate this, courses like engineering includes practical as well as theoretical classes most of the student feel exhausted doing both simultaneously and this affect their performance as they cannot concentrate on one task completely.

Taking everything into account including time span for studying abroad or work placement by university can make their students knowledgeable and experienced. It allow students to learn teamwork, communication and leadership. Also teaches them important life lesson and make them independent. However, this inclusion of work as well as studies on a same time course can create unnecessary burden to student and can affect their overall performance in academics. Moreover, a timely approach for both can be beneficial and make students smarter and experience

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, clearly stating a position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The ideas are relevant, such as the development of soft skills and independence. However, the development is somewhat repetitive, and the argument regarding the disadvantages is less nuanced. While the essay covers the requirements, the supporting examples, such as the mention of Indian parents, are a bit anecdotal and could be more effectively integrated into a broader academic argument. The position is consistent throughout, but the conclusion could be more synthesised rather than just restating the points.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is logically organised into paragraphs, each with a clear central topic. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'The foremost one is', 'Secondly', and 'Moreover', though some transitions feel a bit mechanical. There is a clear progression of ideas from the introduction to the conclusion. However, referencing is occasionally unclear, and some sentences are slightly disjointed. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate the advantages from the disadvantages, which helps the reader follow the argument easily.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task, but it lacks sophistication. There are several instances of awkward phrasing and word choice errors, such as 'upper hands' instead of 'advantages' or 'benefits', and 'on the flip hand' instead of 'on the other hand'. Spelling errors like 'there' instead of 'their' occur frequently. While the student attempts to use topic-specific vocabulary like 'theoretical knowledge' and 'practical exposure', the overall lexical control is inconsistent, limiting the score to the 6.0 range.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. However, there are frequent grammatical errors, particularly with subject-verb agreement ('it help to develop', 'university offer', 'student would not be able') and article usage. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with comma splices present in several places. While these errors do not impede overall communication, they are frequent enough to prevent the essay from reaching a higher band. More attention to proofreading for basic grammatical accuracy would significantly improve the quality of the writing.

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