Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-12

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)

It has been argued that, universities should include a period of time spent on educaton in foreign country or doing a workplacement for all undergraduate students. In my opinion, the benefits surpass the drawbacks. My preference is explained further.

Discussing the merits, the foremost one is that students can learn a lot of new skills. They may learn communication because it is one of the most essential thing for any individual to learn new thing. Moreover, they can interact with latest technological devices which are not available in their country. It also leads to innovative minds beause they gain knowledge and create new ideas. For example, college students visit exhibitions in a foreign coumtry where they can ask their querries to professionals.

Furthermore, another benefit is that under graduate pupils can explore real industries through internships.These assist them to understand practical knowledge which they studied at the collge and they can earn some money while working in industries. In addition to this, when a student travels to a foreign nation, can lern their culture, work ethics and methods of work in a cooperative environment. Therefore, they can explore global exposore in different manners and develop cognitive skills.

Dspite the merits, a significant drawback is that students often face a problem related to language. Every nation has its own language, for a college students it is very difficult learn and commuicate with the people of that nation.

In conclusion, although education in abroad or doing a workplacement have some disadvantages, its advantages are more substantial and therefore outweigh its drawbacks. Students learn essential things such as communucation skill, practical knowledge, latest technology, exposure in industries. These are far better positives than not being able to speak a foreign language.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The student addresses all parts of the prompt by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of including study abroad or work placements in undergraduate degrees, and clearly states a position that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. The main ideas, such as acquiring new skills, interacting with technology, and gaining practical industry experience, are relevant to the topic. However, some arguments lack deep extension and rely on over-generalised statements or slight repetition, such as mentioning communication and skills multiple times. For example, the point about visiting exhibitions to ask queries is a good start, but could be elaborated further to fully satisfy the higher band descriptors. Despite these limitations, the response covers the requirements of the task well, providing a clear overall argument throughout.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 6.0

The response features a clear overall progression, dividing the essay into an introduction, body paragraphs discussing merits and drawbacks separately, and a clear conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to structure the argument. Cohesive devices are employed to link ideas together, such as 'Furthermore', 'In addition to this', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes a bit mechanical or faulty, as seen in the phrasing 'when a student travels to a foreign nation, can lern their culture', where a subject pronoun is missing. Additionally, some transitions feel abrupt, which places the essay firmly in the mid-to-upper band range rather than the higher tiers.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range for the task, successfully attempting some less common lexical items such as 'undergraduate', 'internships', 'cooperative environment', and 'cognitive skills'. However, there are notable spelling errors and inaccurate word choices throughout the text, including 'educaton', 'workplacement', 'beause', 'coumtry', 'querries', 'under graduate', 'collge', 'lern', 'exposore', 'Dspite', and 'commuicate'. These errors indicate a lack of precision, though they generally do not impede the overall communication of ideas. To reach a higher band score, the student needs to demonstrate greater control over spelling and word formation.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The student uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses and conditional structures such as 'technological devices which are not available in their country' and 'when a student travels to a foreign nation'. There are several grammatical and punctuation errors present, such as missing articles ('universities should include', 'for a college students'), incorrect comma usage ('It has been argued that, universities'), and omission of subject pronouns ('when a student travels to a foreign nation, can lern'). Despite these errors, the meaning is usually clear and the mistakes rarely impede overall communication, reflecting the characteristics of a solid Band 6 performance.

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

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