Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-09

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 6.0)

Many people believe that all university should complete a period for study abrod or work placement programe before graduation. Although, this policy have some drawbacks, I believe that its long-term benefits will overweights the disadvantage.

One major advantage of this policy is that it enables students to connect academic learning with practical experience. Instead relying soley on the classroom instruction, they can apply theoretical knowledge in real situations and understands who professional work is carried out. This process also improves communicaton skills, teamwork, and problem-solving skills, making gradutes more confident and employable. For example, engineering students who complete internships often becomes familiar with the industrial producers before graduation. Consequently, universities can prepare students more effectively for future careers.

Studying abroad or working in a different enviorment also promotes personal growth. Living independently encourages students to become more responsible towards their life, while exporsure to different culture broderns their perespectives and ability to communicate with people from divers background. Such qualities are increasingly important because nowadays many companies operate internationally. For instance, graduates with overseas study experience are often more confident when working with multicultural teams. Therefore, this curriculm arragement helps students adapt more esaily to modern work places.

Admittedly, implementing this policy may place financial and administrative pressure on universities, and some students may struggle with the additional cost of studying abroad. For example, smaller institution may not have enough overseas partners or intership opprtunities for every students. However, these challenges be eased with finanicial support and cooperation with businesses.

In conclusion, although requring undergratutes to study abroad or undertake work placement involves certain practical difficulties, the long term advantages for students academic, personal and professional development are far more significant.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the prompt, clearly stating a position in the introduction and maintaining it throughout. The ideas are relevant and well-developed, with clear arguments regarding professional development and personal growth. The counter-argument regarding financial and administrative burdens is also acknowledged and addressed, which adds depth to the response. The essay is well-structured, and the position is consistent. To reach a higher band, the student could provide more specific, real-world examples rather than general statements like 'engineering students' or 'many companies', which would further strengthen the support for the main arguments.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.5

The essay is logically organized, with a clear progression of ideas from one paragraph to the next. Each paragraph has a central topic, and the transition between the benefits and the drawbacks is handled effectively using cohesive devices like 'Admittedly' and 'However'. Referencing is generally clear, and the use of linking words such as 'Consequently', 'Therefore', and 'For instance' helps guide the reader through the argument. While the flow is generally smooth, some minor improvements in the variety of cohesive devices could make the writing feel more sophisticated and less mechanical.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to discuss the topic with some precision, using terms like 'theoretical knowledge', 'employable', and 'multicultural teams'. However, there are several spelling errors throughout the text, such as 'abrod', 'programe', 'enviorment', 'exporsure', 'broderns', 'perespectives', 'divers', 'curriculm', and 'undergratutes'. While these errors do not impede communication, they are frequent enough to prevent a higher score. The student should focus on proofreading to eliminate these basic spelling mistakes, as they detract from the overall professional tone of the essay.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence structures. There are several grammatical errors, such as subject-verb agreement issues ('all university should complete', 'this policy have', 'internships often becomes', 'every students') and missing prepositions or articles ('Instead relying', 'towards their life'). Despite these errors, the meaning is always clear, and the complexity of the sentences shows an attempt to use a variety of structures. To improve, the student needs to pay closer attention to basic grammatical rules, particularly pluralization and subject-verb agreement, to ensure the majority of sentences are error-free.

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.