Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-19

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)

Task: 2

It is irrefutable that nowadays shools and universities are providing extra curriculum activities with studies for students' better growth. On that note, all the university which have undergraduate courses should incorporate a period of time spend studying abroad, or doing a work placement. Although, there will be few demerits of this situation but merites are far more.

The The belief that I hold can be justified by numerous reasons. To iniliate with, doing work placement can help students to understand the real world situation. In other words, students may get exposure about the real work environment. For instance, in India the difference between studies and work is quite more. As they both are very different So, students are uncuware about the work atmosphere. Secondly, doing work at placement can make pupils dependent. Moreover, they become independent and they do not have to relay on their parents for their fees, or commuting cost and many more things.

Furthermore, students can decied their career goal. In addition, if the university provide the information of studying abroad tutees can decied whether they want to study abroad or want to do work or what go to do. Lastly, placement can be helpful to the fresher students. To elaborate, many pupils do not get because they donot have experience. As an illustration, many compaines

do not hire the freshers as they want experienced employees, so if the universities tied up with companies this can be boneticial for students to get the jobs. Thus, this trend can be advantageous.

To recapitulat, although this trend can distract students from their studies. I still believe that this can be beneficial due to reasons like students may get exposure about real work atmosphere, they become independent, they can decied their career goal and they can get job opportunity as a freshers. Ergo, this can be better development for the students.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of mandatory study abroad or work placements. The position is clear throughout, and the main ideas—such as gaining real-world experience, financial independence, and career clarity—are relevant. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat superficial. For example, the point about 'freshers' and company hiring is underdeveloped and ends abruptly with an incomplete sentence. While the response covers all parts of the task, the arguments lack the depth and detailed support required for a higher band score. The conclusion effectively summarizes the main points, maintaining a consistent position.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The essay is organized into logical paragraphs, each with a clear focus. Cohesive devices such as 'To iniliate with', 'Secondly', 'Furthermore', and 'To recapitulat' are used to guide the reader. However, the use of these devices is sometimes mechanical or slightly awkward, and there are instances where the flow is interrupted by grammatical errors or incomplete thoughts, such as the sentence ending in 'many compaines'. Paragraphing is used appropriately, but the internal cohesion within the third paragraph is weakened by the fragmented sentence structure. Overall, the progression of ideas is clear, but the execution of linking elements could be more natural.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task, allowing the student to express their ideas clearly. There are attempts to use academic vocabulary, such as 'irrefutable', 'incorporate', and 'boneticial' (likely a misspelling of 'beneficial'). However, there are frequent spelling errors ('shools', 'iniliate', 'uncuware', 'decied', 'boneticial') and some awkward word choices ('extra curriculum activities' instead of 'extracurricular', 'relay' instead of 'rely'). These errors do not generally impede communication, but they do limit the precision and sophistication of the writing. A wider range of vocabulary and more accurate spelling would be necessary to reach a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there is a high frequency of grammatical errors throughout. Common issues include subject-verb agreement ('all the university which have'), incorrect word forms ('doing work at placement'), and punctuation errors. There are also several sentence fragments and incomplete thoughts, such as 'many pupils do not get because they donot have experience' and the unfinished sentence 'As an illustration, many compaines'. While the meaning is usually understandable, the persistent errors in basic grammar and sentence construction prevent the writing from reaching a higher level of accuracy.

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

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