Band 4.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-16

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 4.5)

The societal significance of all university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement has become an increasingly contentious issue in contemporary academic and public discourse.While proponents argue that its implementation offers substantial benefits,critics remain concerned about its potential adverse effects.The essay will critically analyze both the positive and negative dimensions of this trend to reach a logical conclusion.

Primarily,there are several reasons to believe that all university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement serves as a catalyst for professional and social advancement.By fostering a more efficient environment, it enables individuals to achieve higher success rate and promotes healthy institutional development.For instance, empirical evidence suggests that integrating this trend into modern systems enhances the overall productivity.Consequently,its role in driving progress is indisputable.

However,despite these advantages, excessive reliance on all university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement may pose significant challenges.Specifically, unregulated can use to lead all university undergraduate courses which poses risks to social stability.Furthermore, academic research indicates that this phenomenon can cause a period of time sent studying abroad or doing a work placement leading to long-term system issues.

In conclusion, while resolving global complexities is challenging, collective action can mitigate these risks.Adopting a balanced and strategic approach toward all university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work of placement is essential to optimize its utility while minimizing its detrimental consequences.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 4.5

The response attempts to address the prompt regarding whether studying abroad or doing a work placement in undergraduate courses has advantages that outweigh disadvantages. However, the student has relied heavily on generic, memorized templates or phrases that do not directly fit the specific topic. For instance, the entire essay repeatedly copies long, awkward strings from the prompt like 'all university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement' as a noun phrase within sentences, which makes the meaning obscure and unnatural. While an overall position is stated, the arguments lack genuine development and fall into repetitive, abstract generalities rather than discussing tangible pros and cons such as employability, cultural awareness, or financial costs. Because the ideas are heavily obscured by templates and lack substantive task-specific content, the score reflects limited development.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The essay is divided into four standard paragraphs, and basic cohesive devices are present, such as 'Primarily', 'However', and 'In conclusion'. However, the overall progression is severely hindered by the unnatural insertion of the long prompt phrase throughout the text. Referencing is frequently unclear, and sentences often lack logical connection because the substituted phrases create grammatical and semantic confusion. For example, 'Specifically, unregulated can use to lead all university undergraduate courses...' demonstrates faulty cohesion and referencing. Paragraphing is visually present, but the internal logical flow between sentences is frequently broken by repetitive and inappropriate cohesive framing. Therefore, the organizational structure cannot achieve a higher band.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.5

The vocabulary used is largely repetitive and dominated by copied phrases from the prompt. While the student attempts some academic-style vocabulary such as 'contemporary academic and public discourse', 'empirical evidence', and 'detrimental consequences', the misuse of words severely limits communication. For instance, phrases like 'unregulated can use to lead' and 'a period of time sent studying abroad' display significant word choice and collocation errors. Furthermore, there are spelling and typographical errors, such as 'critics remain' with missing spaces or punctuation issues like 'proponents argue that its implementation offers substantial benefits,critics remain'. The lexical range appears minimally adequate in isolation, but the frequent inaccuracies impede clear understanding.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The student attempts complex sentence structures, but these attempts are frequently marred by severe grammatical errors and poor syntax. The main issue stems from treating the entire 17-word prompt question as a single noun phrase, embedding it clumsily into grammatical structures where it does not fit, as seen in 'excessive reliance on all university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement may pose significant challenges.' This results in severe disruptions to sentence boundaries and major structural errors. While there are a few simple sentences that are grammatically intact, the majority of complex attempts are faulty, leading to frequent difficulty for the reader and justifying this band score.

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

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