Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-17

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)

Studying abroad is now a trend and experience that one ought to have in there life. While being a student at a university in your home country, including a course period where you can study abroad or a work placement semester could really help building the career someone want. While the advantages could outweigh the disadvantages, I believe that providing a specific period or course-timeline for these undergraduate programs could turn beneficial.

Work placement or studying abroad really helps shaping someone mentally and physically. Students enrolled in the undergrad courses are in the initial stages of career and life, so if they get a chance for a specific time period, this could make them more competent, confident and could make them potential stand out by pushing boundaries of what they used to do.

These opportunities could turn life changing. For example, if someone goes for this period of course, they would get to experience how people think and live abroad, will get to experience new culture, make friends, understand the curriculum of how the academic studies are carried out here. Additionaly, the change is lifestyle could be noticed from there home country.

There are several advantages of how it can make a person grow personally and professionally. Studying abroad could create opportunities for you by networking and gaining the skills. Moreover, if a person who has experienced this period could dream of moving in that country for job purposes and will eventually work more towards that dream by studying more.

However, some disadvantages that one can face is the exclusion and isolation. Moving to another country requires confidence to do things on your own without taking much help from people and being self reliant. An individual becomes responsible for there mental and physical health. Isolation could also be noticed in such individuals who face difficulty with making friends or are taking time to adjust to a new culture and lifestyle.

In summary, I think there are more benefits of studying abroad or experiencing a new lifestyle. The disadvanges could be found irrespective of the country. So taking the opportunity will help in the long run.

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 including studying abroad or work placements in undergraduate courses, and provides a clear personal position throughout. The ideas are generally relevant, covering personal development, networking, and cultural exposure alongside potential drawbacks like isolation. However, some of the ideas are somewhat repetitive and lack deeper extension or specific real-world examples, relying instead on generalized statements like "how people think and live abroad." The conclusion successfully reiterates the writer's stance. This performance aligns well with the Band 6 descriptors because it addresses all parts of the task, though certain points remain somewhat under-developed.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay demonstrates a clear overall progression with a recognizable introduction, body paragraphs addressing advantages and disadvantages, and a summarizing conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct points, such as moving from personal growth to the drawbacks of isolation. However, cohesion at the sentence level is occasionally faulty or mechanical. For instance, referencing is sometimes unclear, as seen in phrases like "the change is lifestyle could be noticed from there home country" where pronoun reference and logical connection are slightly confused. Cohesive devices are used adequately, but transitions between some paragraphs feel abrupt, resulting in a Band 6 performance for this criterion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The writer attempts less common vocabulary, such as "competent," "confident," and "self reliant," demonstrating an adequate range for the task. However, there are noticeable spelling, word choice, and collocation errors throughout the text. Examples include "in there life" instead of "in their life," "turn beneficial" instead of "prove beneficial," "Additionaly" with a spelling error, and "change is lifestyle" instead of "change in lifestyle." Furthermore, "from there home country" uses the wrong homophone. While these errors do not seriously impede communication, their frequency prevents the score from reaching a Band 7, placing the lexical resource firmly at a Band 6.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures such as conditional and subordinate clauses (e.g., "While being a student at a university in your home country..."). However, there are frequent grammatical errors in punctuation, preposition use, and subject-verb agreement. Notable errors include "help building" instead of "help to build," "someone want" instead of "someone wants," "helps shaping" instead of "helps shape," and "in that country for job purposes" instead of "for employment purposes." Additionally, there are pronoun confusion issues like "responsible for there mental and physical health." Because errors persist and affect basic syntactic structures, the response earns a Band 5.0 for grammar.

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