Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · 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 5.0)

In recent years All universities undergraduate courses should make period of time spent studying abroad or doing work placement compulsory has become increasingly common. this development has both advantages and disadvantages which will be discussed in this essay.

one major advantage of all university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement is that it will enhance the explosure of a young students and make them able to work in a professional life and also working in a undergraduate course increase there technical skills as well so they can easily find the permanent placement for instance students who working with there studies are more skillful and have better changes to get a good job after graduating from their university as compare to the students who do not done any work placement in there undergraduate courses.another benefit of studying abroad in the undergraduate course will gave a international standards clarity about these field and it will boost the confidence of the students that they can easily compete with the other students world wide.for example students how are currently doing software engineering if they go to abroad in there undergraduate course they will know about the scope of artificial intelligence that boost them to work on that skill

however,there are also some disadvantages of making the time spent on studying abroad or doing work placement for universities in undergraduate courses is not every student can afford to move abroad to spend there time so will make them very upset and depressed because they feel that are not much competitive with other and same goes for work placement .

in conclusion all university undergraduate courses should include a period of time to spent studying abroad or doing a work placement offers several advantages and also some disadvantages overall the advantages of this would outweigh the disadvantages .

AI examiner evaluation

CriterionBand
Task Achievement / Task Response5.5
Coherence and Cohesion5.0
Lexical Resource5.0
Grammatical Range and Accuracy5.0
Overall5.0

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of making study abroad or work placements compulsory, eventually taking a clear position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Ideas are introduced, such as the enhancement of technical skills and employability through work placements, and global awareness through studying abroad. However, these ideas are often repetitive and lack deep development or specific elaboration. For instance, the discussion on software engineering and artificial intelligence is somewhat superficial. The student attempts to cover all parts of the task as required, but the support tends to over-generalize rather than provide fully articulated examples. This performance aligns best with the Band 6 descriptors.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a recognizable introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion, fulfilling the basic structural requirements of an essay. However, coherence is heavily impaired by poor punctuation, missing capitalization (such as at the beginning of sentences like 'this development has both advantages...'), and a lack of proper paragraphing or cohesive devices. Sentences tend to run into one another without adequate transitional phrases or logical segmentation, making the progression somewhat mechanical and difficult to follow in places. The referencing is occasionally unclear, particularly in long, sprawling sentences. Overall, the organizational flaws place this response firmly in the Band 5 category.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The student demonstrates an adequate vocabulary range to communicate basic points about education and employment, using terms like 'undergraduate courses', 'professional life', and 'technical skills'. However, there are numerous inappropriate word choices and spelling errors throughout the text, such as 'explosure' for exposure, 'changes' for chances, 'how' for who, and 'there' for their. The attempts at less common vocabulary are often inaccurate, and the limitations in word choice occasionally cause strain for the reader. These characteristics reflect the typical profile of a Band 5 performance in lexical resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but the control over grammar and punctuation is weak. The essay contains a high frequency of run-on sentences, where multiple distinct ideas are joined together with conjunctions rather than proper punctuation or subordination (e.g., the extremely long second sentence in the first body paragraph). Errors in tense, subject-verb agreement, and word form are common throughout the text, such as 'students who working' and 'do not done any work placement'. While communication is not entirely impeded, the frequent errors and lack of punctuation place this text at Band 5.

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

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