Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

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

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)

Education is considered a fundamental right of human beings. Therefore, nowadays, the number of student immigrants has increased dramatically. To control it, some people opine that all university's undergraduate courses need to have a fix duration for study or doing a work placement. This essay will examine both the advantages and disadvantages.

On the one hand, with large number of students, maintaining the accountability becomes tough. The fix duration of course helps government to differentiate among those people who are currently studying and who completed their study. Moreover, in many countries such as the United States, there is a huge number of students, who came to study their and now they are became citizens. As a result, the population count increases, which creates great impact on the country's economy. Furthermore, the people who are not having enough money to survive or to go back to their country, they probably becomes gangster and increases the crime rates in a country.

On the other hand, there are some disadvantages of it as well. At first, from the student's perspective, it could be a bad thing. Because, if the students are not getting job, which can help them to extend their visa, then they need to go back to their country. In many cases, students are not even getting enough money to repay the loan which they have taken to study abroad.

In conclusion, from student's perspective there are some disadvantages. But from the view of government and safety the advantages far outweighs the disadvantages.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt but struggles with focus. While you discuss the implications of international students, you often drift into a general discussion about immigration and crime rather than focusing on the specific proposal: that all undergraduate courses should mandate study abroad or work placements. The connection between the policy and the resulting 'advantages' (like government accountability) is tenuous and lacks logical development. To improve, ensure every point directly supports your stance on the proposed policy. The position is clear in the conclusion, but the arguments provided in the body paragraphs are somewhat tangential to the core requirement of the task.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, which is a positive start. However, the logical progression between ideas is often weak. For instance, the transition from discussing student numbers to the claim that students become 'gangsters' is abrupt and lacks a clear logical link. Cohesive devices are used, such as 'On the one hand' and 'Moreover', but they are sometimes used mechanically or inappropriately. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the use of 'it' in the second paragraph, which does not clearly refer back to the specific policy mentioned in the introduction. Improving the flow between sentences would significantly enhance the clarity of your arguments.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and range required for higher bands. There are several instances of awkward phrasing and word choice errors, such as 'fix duration' (fixed duration), 'came to study their' (there), and 'they probably becomes gangster' (become gangsters). These errors occasionally impede the flow of your writing. To achieve a higher score, focus on using more academic collocations and ensure that your word forms (e.g., singular/plural agreement) are accurate. You rely on basic vocabulary, which limits your ability to express complex ideas with nuance.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there is a high frequency of grammatical errors. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('they probably becomes'), article usage ('the population count'), and sentence fragments or run-on sentences. These errors are frequent enough to be noticeable and occasionally distract the reader. While the meaning is generally understandable, the lack of control over basic grammatical structures prevents a higher score. You should focus on proofreading for common errors like verb tense consistency and pluralisation to improve your accuracy.

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

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