Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-16

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)

These days university undergraduate courses give a period of time for pursue their studies abroad or gaining work expreience. Some people claims that they should spent their time to studying abroad. I agree with this opinion I bileve the advantages of this would outweigh the disadvantages.

On the one hand, there are a lot of advantages to studying abroad and gaining work expreience knowledge is that the individual became more efficient and polished with learning new skills and culture such as, learning new language, global network, and work expreience. Moreover, pupils have polished their hands on expreience and became more powerfull to get better opportunities in their lives. For instance, software compnise gave a lot of expreience to their employees and they became more enticied. However, studing abroad is beneficial for every individuals through this they became more intellectual.

On the other hand, studing abroad and doing their work have some drawbacks it is leading to a lot of problems such as, homesickness, stress, and extra cost. Conversely, it may take too much time and they do not care for themselves it lead to high risk of health problems. Eventhough, if any individual live far away from their homes he has to bear a huge amount of taxes and living abroad is gives high expense of living.

In conclusion, studing or working abroad can give a life time opportunity and develop their skills in the market of software industries. In contrast, undergraduates have to bear high fees to the universities and work limits. I believe there are more advantages than disadvantages.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by taking a clear position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. However, the development of ideas is limited and often repetitive. While you mention benefits like 'global network' and 'new skills', these points are not fully extended or supported with specific, logical reasoning. The example regarding 'software companies' is vague and does not clearly illustrate how a work placement specifically benefits an undergraduate. The conclusion introduces new, slightly contradictory information about 'work limits' that was not previously discussed. To improve, focus on providing a clear, logical progression of ideas with concrete examples that directly support your main argument.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organised into paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. However, the use of cohesive devices is often mechanical or inaccurate. For instance, the use of 'Conversely' in the third paragraph is misused, as the following points are not a direct contrast to the previous sentence. Additionally, some sentences lack logical flow, such as the transition between discussing software companies and the general benefits of being 'intellectual'. While there is a basic attempt at paragraphing, the internal cohesion within paragraphs needs to be strengthened to ensure a smoother progression of ideas.

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 spelling errors, such as 'expreience', 'compnise', 'enticied', and 'studing'. Furthermore, word choice is occasionally awkward or imprecise, such as 'polished their hands on expreience' and 'became more powerfull'. To achieve a higher score, you should focus on using more academic collocations and ensuring accurate spelling of key terms related to the topic. Expanding your range of vocabulary beyond basic descriptors will also help improve the sophistication of your writing.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'Some people claims', 'living abroad is gives'), incorrect verb forms (e.g., 'should spent'), and missing articles. Punctuation is also inconsistent, particularly with comma usage. While the meaning is generally understandable, the high frequency of errors in basic grammar prevents the writing from reaching a higher band. Focusing on proofreading for subject-verb agreement and consistent verb tense usage would be a significant step forward.

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