Band 6.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-14

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 6.5)

As per some individuals, a specific time period of studying abroad or doing a work placement should be included as an essential part of university undergraduate courses. Although this can sometimes lead to an unnecessary burden on students, I believe that the advantages of gaining work experience and financial independence outweigh the potential drawbacks.

The main advantage is that working as an intern provides students a great opportunity to gain work experience. They learn several essential basic skills that are required to get into any organisation as a permanent employee. As a result, it becomes easier for the individuals to enter at good positions in the reputed firms or companies. Chitkara University, for instance, every year selects its 5 best performing final year students of Computer Science Engineering and provides them a chance to work with American IT companies. These students end up getting permanently settled there at top positions.

Financial independence at an early age is another important benefit. If work placement is included in Bachelor courses, learners can earn a sufficient amount of money and hence support themselves in terms of monetary aspects. They can even manage to pay their fees. It also makes them understand the value of money. Moreover, studying abroad even for a small period of time helps youngsters to understand foreign culture and boost their communication skills.Not only do they get a chance to share class with students of different nations, but also becomes culturally aware and develop interpersonal skills. For example, in most cross border colleges, there are students from all different countries and they altogether sit inside the same classroom.

Admittedly, there is a drawback that students may get overburdened sometimes, which may cause stress or frustation. However, what must be remembered is that such drawbacks are minor compared to the substantial benefits.

To conclude, while challenges do exist, advantages - especially gaining work experience and being financially independent clearly overshadow them.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 7.0

The response addresses all parts of the task effectively, presenting a clear position throughout. The writer discusses both sides—acknowledging the potential drawback of students getting overburdened while strongly arguing that the advantages of gaining practical work experience and financial independence outweigh the disadvantages. Ideas are extended and supported with relevant examples, such as the mention of Chitkara University and cross-border college environments. Although some points could be explored with even greater depth, the overall task response fulfills the requirements for a Band 7.0 by maintaining a well-developed argument and a clear, consistent stance from introduction to conclusion.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 7.0

The essay displays a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Each paragraph has a distinct central topic, moving smoothly from the introduction to work experience, financial benefits, cultural awareness, drawbacks, and finally the conclusion. Cohesive devices are used effectively to connect ideas, as seen with phrases like 'The main advantage is', 'As a result', and 'Moreover'. Paragraphing is used sufficiently and appropriately, ensuring the reader can easily follow the progression of arguments. While some transitions are slightly conventional, the overall cohesion supports the flow of the text well, aligning comfortably with the Band 7.0 descriptors.

Lexical Resource — Band 6.5

The student demonstrates a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow for some flexibility and precision. Phrases such as 'financial independence', 'interpersonal skills', 'unnecessary burden', and 'monetary aspects' show an awareness of appropriate collocation and topic-specific le词. There are occasional slight inaccuracies or awkward phrasings, such as 'As per some individuals' instead of 'According to some individuals', and a minor spelling slip 'frustation' instead of 'frustration'. However, the vocabulary used is adequate to convey precise meanings, and these minor errors do not impede communication, making a Band 6.5 a fair assessment.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 6.0

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating the ability to construct conditional sentences ('If work placement is included...') and relative clauses ('...students from all different countries and they altogether sit...'). There are some instances of grammatical errors or slightly clumsy syntax, such as 'provides students a great opportunity' (missing the preposition 'with') and the run-on structure in '...but also becomes culturally aware and develop interpersonal skills' (which suffers from a lack of parallelism and subject-verb agreement). Nevertheless, these errors rarely impede communication, and there are frequent error-free sentences, supporting a solid Band 6.0 performance.

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

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