Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-12

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)

All the undergraduate courses which are taught in the universities should include a time where they study abroad or doing a work placement. These have many advantages for the undergraduate students to explore time and gained experience by studying abroad or doing a work but to some extent.

The undergraduate student should spend their time in the abroad universities where they have massive opportunities for themselves and get a life changing lesson in their life. There is substantial increase in the number of undergraduate students who are moving abroad for better life and opportunities while the students who spend a specific time in abroad through universities get a quality education and a lot of experience during their period. Moreover, studying in abroad offers a better infrastructure, world class laboratories, and teaching faculty. These help them for their future and consequently adapt themselves better in their lives and in every circumstances. When students spend their time in abroad, they improve their communication skills because they meet people of different languages and culture.

All the students cannot afford studying abroad nor overall their program neither through their universities because they do not have much money to study abroad and afford living expense in other countries while some students distract in the abroad and move back from their motive.

The government should encourage the universities and students to study abroad and take decisive steps for the welfare for our country. Studying abroad offers the quality education and better life style and students utilize it after coming back to their country.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of mandatory study abroad or work placements. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention benefits like infrastructure and communication skills, the explanation remains superficial. The counter-argument regarding financial constraints is relevant but could be expanded with more specific examples or a clearer conclusion on whether the advantages truly outweigh the disadvantages. The position is generally clear, but the essay lacks a strong, cohesive argument that synthesizes the points made to reach a definitive conclusion.

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 slightly inaccurate. For example, the transition 'while the students who spend a specific time in abroad' is clunky, and the connection between the financial argument and the conclusion is weak. Referencing is sometimes unclear, such as the use of 'these' at the start of the second paragraph, which does not clearly point back to a specific antecedent. The progression of ideas is present but lacks the smooth flow required for a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks precision and variety. You rely on repetitive phrasing, such as 'spend their time in abroad' and 'study abroad,' which appears multiple times. There are also issues with collocation, such as 'distract in the abroad' and 'move back from their motive,' which sound unnatural. While the meaning is generally conveyed, the lack of sophisticated or varied vocabulary limits the score. To improve, focus on using more precise academic collocations and avoiding repetitive sentence structures.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. Common issues include incorrect preposition usage (e.g., 'in the abroad' instead of 'abroad'), article misuse, and subject-verb agreement errors (e.g., 'some students distract'). While these errors do not completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to be noticeable. The sentence construction is often repetitive, and there is a lack of variety in complex grammatical forms. Focusing on accurate sentence building and proofreading for basic errors would significantly improve your score.

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

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