Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer
Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-15
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 recent years, the idea of including a period of time studying abroad or doing a work placement besides university undergraduate courses has become increasingly common. This idea has both of benefits and drawbacks, which will be descussed in this essay.
One major advantage of studying abroad or doing a work placement is having new experiences and new acquaintances. In this kind of things students will be able to experience many things that would be a big step in their life, and work on developing their skills under presure and improve their self esteem. For example, exposing for diffirent hard situations push individuals to build a strong character. Another benefit is that aquaintances, meeting a new individuals will expand the way that students think. As a result, enhancing their efficiency and resistence toward hard situations.
However, studiyng aboroad or doing a work placement also have some disadvantages. One significant drawback is that living in new enveronment can effect negatively on students. For instance, studying abroad mean meet new traditions and new habits, which can be cruel and destracting for students to accustom. Furthermore, being far from family is hard cuause of the lack of tandresy and supporting they offer.
In conclusion, although the drawbacks that studying aboroad or doing a work palcement has, I believe tht its advantages are greater because these king of experiences push us to leave our comfort zone, and put us under life and responsability pressure, whish build the characteristics we need to face the hard life reality.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 5.5 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.0 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.0 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.5
The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of including studying abroad or work placements in undergraduate courses, and provides a clear position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Ideas are introduced and supported, such as building character and experiencing new environments, though some points tend to over-generalise and remain slightly under-developed. For instance, the discussion on the benefits of new acquaintances and overcoming pressure is a bit repetitive and lacks specific examples from real-world contexts. However, the writer maintains a relevant focus throughout and clearly states their opinion in the introduction and conclusion, fulfilling the core requirements of Band 6.
Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5
The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear paragraph structure, including an introduction, two body paragraphs focusing separately on advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty and mechanical. For example, transitional phrases like 'In this kind of things' and 'Another benefit is that aquaintances, meeting a new individuals' show awkward referencing and grammatical lapses. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate ideas, but logical progression within paragraphs is occasionally disrupted by phrasing issues and repetitive sentence starters, placing this response firmly in Band 6.
Lexical Resource — Band 5.0
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common lexical items such as 'acquaintances', 'self esteem', 'resistance', and 'comfort zone'. However, there are numerous spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'descussed', 'presure', 'diffirent', 'aquaintances', 'studiyng', 'aboroad', 'enveronment', 'effect' instead of 'affect', 'destracting', 'cuause', 'tandresy', 'tht', and 'responsability'. While these errors are noticeable and stem from basic spelling or form slips, communication is not severely impeded as the writer's meaning remains understandable. This performance reflects the characteristics of Band 5.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0
The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing relative clauses and conditional-like structures such as 'studying abroad mean meet new traditions' and 'although the drawbacks that...'. There are frequent grammatical errors in verb forms, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions, such as 'exposing for diffirent hard situations push', 'studying abroad mean meet', and 'cuause of the lack of tandresy and supporting they offer'. While these errors can cause some difficulty for the reader, simple sentences are generally controlled and the overall meaning comes through, corresponding to a Band 5 performance.
See this exact question answered at other band scores — the same prompt compared across bands.
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