Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-08-26

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 university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement because it will help the students to get exposure of practical life and an opportunity to see how other students abroad are studying.

Time spent studying abroad or doing a placement work have many advantages and this will definitely outweigh the disadvantages. Nowadays undergraduate courses don’t include studying abroad or a work placement due to which student don't have practical knowledge of how to implement things they have studied in practical life. This makes them incompetent in the real world. Undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad it will have more benefits and it will be an opportunity for the students to learn that how their competitors are getting education. For instance, if a student is working alongside their education and he is practically applying what he is studying then he will have better concepts and understanding regarding the implementation of the knowledge than the student just studying the course and not applying his knowledge and course content. The government and the university administration should make the right policy regarding the undergraduate courses including a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement to benefit the students as well as the society because these students will be doing practical work after graduating contributing to the society as well.

In my opinion, the advantages of this would definitely outweigh the disadvantages and will benefits the students regarding their growth in terms of their careers.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt and maintains a clear position throughout. However, the development of ideas is somewhat repetitive. While you mention that students gain practical knowledge, the argument could be strengthened by exploring the disadvantages (e.g., financial burden or academic delay) and then refuting them, rather than simply stating that the advantages outweigh them. The essay is slightly underdeveloped in terms of depth; providing a specific example of a country or a particular industry where such placements are successful would have elevated the response. Ensure that all parts of the prompt are explored with equal weight to reach higher bands.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is organized into three paragraphs, but the structure is quite basic. The progression of ideas is logical, but the use of cohesive devices is somewhat mechanical and repetitive (e.g., 'it will have', 'it will be'). There is a lack of sophisticated transition between sentences, which makes the flow feel a bit disjointed. Paragraphing is present, but the introduction and conclusion are very brief, and the body paragraph contains several ideas that could have been separated for better clarity. Improving the variety of linking words would help the flow.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks the range and precision required for higher bands. You rely on common phrases like 'practical life', 'real world', and 'better concepts'. There are some inaccuracies in collocation, such as 'get exposure of practical life' (should be 'gain exposure to') and 'make the right policy' (should be 'formulate appropriate policies'). To improve, try to incorporate more academic collocations and topic-specific terminology related to higher education and professional development.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors. For example, 'Time spent... have many advantages' (subject-verb agreement error), 'student don't have' (should be 'students don't have'), and 'learn that how' (incorrect clause structure). Punctuation is also inconsistent, with several run-on sentences that lack proper commas or conjunctions. While these errors do not completely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to lower the score. Focus on subject-verb agreement and refining complex sentence construction.

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

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