Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-04
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)
Nowadays, university level education plays a very crucial role for learners' employment and formation of skills. Some individuals believe that undergraduate university students should participate in the work placement or time spent while studying abroad. In this essay, I would like to discuss the merits that outweigh the demerits before drawing a conclusion.
On the one hand, doing jobs at abroad has a significant number of merits for the university youngsters. Firstly, they come across different type of knowledge and information while doing internship at different places. Numerous interactions with different kinds of people, which helps to formation of social skills. The internships play a role as a bridge between theory and practical study. For instance, Indian students are moving to Canada, Australia and UK for further study and gain the experience, that makes their resume stronger.
On the other hand, there are several demerits of studying and work placement at abroad. The financial burden on students can have a major adverse effect. Some undergraduate students can cause stress and depression, even many students committed suicide. The main reason is that they have to work at unpaid internships, which results in wastage of precious time. Moreover, students cannot afford the expensive living style.
In conclusion, although there are several disadvantages of spending time on study and internship for university students of abroad yet, there are many advantages of doing placements and studying at abroad for university level education. Students become more informative, responsible and independent. they can secure at good paid job at foreign.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses the prompt by discussing both advantages and disadvantages, ultimately taking a position. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited. While you mention benefits like social skills and resume building, the points regarding disadvantages—specifically the mention of suicide—are extreme and lack sufficient supporting evidence or logical connection to the prompt. The essay would benefit from more balanced and nuanced arguments. The conclusion is clear, but the supporting points in the body paragraphs remain somewhat superficial, preventing the response from reaching a higher band. Ensure that all claims are supported by logical reasoning rather than generalizations.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay is organized into clear paragraphs, which helps the reader follow the structure. You use basic cohesive devices such as 'On the one hand', 'On the other hand', 'Firstly', and 'Moreover' to signal transitions. However, the flow within paragraphs is sometimes disjointed. For example, the transition from discussing financial burdens to the mention of suicide is abrupt and lacks a smooth logical progression. Additionally, some referencing is unclear, such as the use of 'they' in the final paragraph without a clear antecedent. Improving the variety of linking words and ensuring tighter logical connections between sentences would enhance the coherence.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.5
The range of vocabulary is adequate for the task but lacks sophistication. You rely on repetitive phrasing, such as 'doing jobs at abroad' and 'studying and work placement at abroad', which is grammatically awkward and lexically limited. There are also errors in collocation, such as 'formation of skills' instead of 'skill development' and 'become more informative' when you likely meant 'well-informed'. To improve, focus on using more precise academic collocations and avoiding the repetition of basic words. Expanding your vocabulary to include more topic-specific terminology would help demonstrate a greater range.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5
The essay contains a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but there are frequent grammatical errors that occasionally impede clarity. Common issues include incorrect preposition usage ('at abroad' instead of 'abroad'), article errors ('the university youngsters'), and awkward phrasing ('the internships play a role as a bridge'). There are also punctuation and capitalization issues, such as starting a sentence with a lowercase letter ('they can secure...'). While the meaning is generally understandable, the frequency of these errors prevents the writing from achieving a higher score. Focus on subject-verb agreement and correct prepositional usage.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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