Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · 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 5.5)

In college nowadays, schools provided not only fundational courses , but also opportunities to study abroad or doing a work placement.Overall, I believe that it can be beneficial to students by enriching their experiences and college life.In this essay, I'll discuss the pros and cons of requiring students to participate in those activities. Learning shouldn't be boring and standarized.Throughout one's school life,the only thing one do is to sit down and start learning. As a result, there has been a gap between students' ability and jobs' requirements.Consider a student just graduated from college,being passionate at getting a job.Sadly, the truth is no corporation wants an employee with no experience. In order to terminate that gap, schools required students to participate in various activities,including studying abroad or doing a work placement.

However, some students believe that it will only stress them out. Having extra things to do under a highly competitive and stressful environment can be frustrating.Consider a student with double major, not only does he/she need to spend hundreds of hours accomplish both major's required courses, but he also needs to participate these activities while being stressed out. However, the downside of including these activites won't outweigh the upside of it. Having more experience and enhancing one's soft-skills actually worth it. I suggest that we can strike a balance by including only students capable or making it optional. In conclusion, these activities might be stressful and frustrating. Therefore, choosing students capable and willing to participate it will make it more reasonable and beneficial to students.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of requiring university undergraduates to study abroad or complete a work placement, ultimately taking a clear position that the advantages outweigh the downsides. The student introduces relevant ideas, such as closing the gap between academic theory and the demands of the corporate world, and considering the stress placed on students with heavy workloads. However, some of these ideas remain slightly under-developed and lack extended specific examples. For instance, mentioning a student with a double major is a good attempt, but the argument could be pushed further with deeper exploration. The position is maintained consistently throughout the essay, satisfying the requirements for a Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing both sides of the argument, and a concluding stance. Logical progression is evident as the writer transitions from the benefits to the drawbacks and then to a balanced conclusion. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical, with instances of spacing and punctuation errors affecting the flow, such as missing spaces after commas and periods (e.g., 'courses , but also' and 'life.In this essay'). Paragraphing is used, but the initial paragraphs are somewhat clumped together. Referencing is generally clear, but the organization could be smoother with more varied cohesive devices, placing this text firmly at a Band 6.0.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'fundational', 'corporation', 'soft-skills', and 'terminate that gap'. However, there are noticeable word-choice and spelling inaccuracies, such as 'fundational' instead of foundational, 'standarized' instead of standardized, and awkward phrasing like 'terminate that gap' instead of bridge or narrow that gap. Despite these limitations and occasional spelling errors, the vocabulary is sufficient to communicate the main ideas clearly, preventing the score from falling lower and aligning well with the Band 6.0 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer employs a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional structures and participial phrases (e.g., 'In order to terminate that gap, schools required students...'). There are, however, several grammatical and punctuation errors throughout the text, such as tense shifts ('schools provided... I believe... I'll discuss'), subject-verb agreement issues ('the only thing one do'), and missing punctuation/spacing around clauses. While these errors are noticeable and require the reader to occasionally adjust, they rarely impede overall communication. The presence of both complex attempts and persistent errors justifies a Band 6.0 score.

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