Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-03

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)

It has been suggested that every undergraduate program should spent time studying abroad or doing placement work. In my opinion advantages of this does not outweigh its disadvantages.

There are compelling advantages to this proposal. Firstly, exposure to global culture or workplace builds , independence, adaptability and global awareness this helps individuals to reach good state of life, excellence in their career. For example, new study tells that individual who has exposure to global workplace and culture have better managing skills compared to non abroad once as they are competing with global students. In addition, work placement gives student real industrial knowledge which can help in employment rather than theory knowledge. this suggests that how important is global exposure.

However, this policy also presents notable drawbacks. Firstly, financial cost of studying and living abroad can turn out to be financial burden to many low income students and potentially widening inequality rather then benefiting them. For example, many families simply cannot afford such high cost of living and additional traveling cost . In addition, major drawbacks can be security concern,

In conclusion, studying abroad has its own benefits like adaptability and global exposure but disadvantages outweigh its advantages. such as, high cost of living , widening inequality and other concern

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 250 words, which significantly impacts the development of ideas. While you have addressed the prompt and taken a clear position, the arguments are underdeveloped. For instance, the point regarding 'security concerns' is left as a sentence fragment without any explanation or example. To improve, you must expand on your points with more detailed reasoning and specific examples to ensure the essay is fully developed. The conclusion also lacks depth, merely repeating the introduction rather than synthesizing the arguments presented.

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 somewhat mechanical and occasionally inaccurate, such as the phrase 'this suggests that how important is global exposure,' which is grammatically awkward and disrupts the flow. The transition between ideas is sometimes abrupt, particularly in the second paragraph where the jump from 'industrial knowledge' to 'global exposure' lacks a smooth logical link. Improving the variety and accuracy of linking words will help create a more natural progression of ideas.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The vocabulary is generally adequate for the task but lacks the precision and range required for higher bands. You rely on basic terms like 'good state of life' and 'major drawbacks,' which are somewhat vague. There are also issues with word choice and collocation, such as 'non abroad once' and 'additional traveling cost.' To achieve a higher score, focus on using more academic collocations and precise terminology related to education and employment, and ensure that word forms are used correctly in context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('advantages... does not outweigh') and missing articles ('financial cost of studying'). Sentence structures are relatively simple, and attempts at more complex sentences often contain errors, such as the fragment 'In addition, major drawbacks can be security concern,' which lacks a complete predicate. Punctuation is also inconsistent, with unnecessary spaces before commas. Focusing on basic sentence construction and proofreading for common errors will significantly improve your clarity and accuracy.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.