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)

It is argued that the entire number of universities with undergraduate courses should provide their students with a period of studying or working abroad. The fact why benefits of this activity will outweigh the drawbacks in regard to the students' opportunities and improved communication skills will be examined in this essay.

Definitely, people can achieve higher results in their work or study in the huge cities with plenty of up-to-date technologies and convenient infrastructure. In a majority of situations, megacities are located far from local universities. For that reason, a lot of students want to move somewhere in order to expand their horizons and succeed in professional areas. However, it can be challenging because not every person have enough money or other capabilities to study or work abroad. With this in mind, universities with special abroad programs are more beneficial than these, who do not have them, for the reason that they give students a chance to become better in professional characteristics in various countries.

It is noteworthy that employees with better communication skills are more likely to be hired. Studying or working in different foreign communities can provide students with the opportunity to boost these skills. They cannot only learn how to find a contact with unknown people with various worldviews and life coordinates, but also enhance their language skills. For instance, the majority of universities in Italy fulfill the special exchange programs, such as "Erasmus", in cooperation with European educational and work places, which let students from both well-known and small institutes to explore advantageous places to communicate and learn languages.

In conclusion, the advantages of fulfilling programs related to studying and working abroad, while undergoing your own course in a one institute, outweigh disadvantages; since they let students to improve their communication skills and learn new languages; these two aspects are extremely crucial for the future professional work

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing whether the advantages of studying abroad or doing a work placement during undergraduate courses outweigh the disadvantages. A clear position is stated in the introduction and maintained throughout the essay. The student develops relevant ideas regarding professional opportunities, communication skills, and language acquisition, supporting them with a concrete example such as the Erasmus program. However, some arguments in the second paragraph drift slightly toward the general benefits of moving to megacities rather than strictly focusing on studying or working abroad. Despite this minor tangential expansion, all parts of the task are addressed and the main ideas are generally well extended, aligning closely with the Band 6.5 to 7.0 profile. A band score of 6.5 is awarded.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay is logically organised into an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion, demonstrating a clear overall progression. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas. Cohesive devices are employed to connect sentences and paragraphs, such as 'Definitely', 'However', 'With this in mind', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and cohesion are sometimes slightly mechanical or awkward, as seen in phrases like 'these, who do not have them' and 'in a one institute'. While the flow is generally easy to follow, these occasional awkward transitions prevent the response from reaching a higher band. A band score of 6.0 is awarded.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'infrastructure', 'expand their horizons', 'worldviews', and 'advantageous places'. There are, however, several lexical inaccuracies and unnatural collocations throughout the text, such as 'entire number of universities' instead of 'all universities', 'achieve higher results', and 'fulfill the special exchange programs' instead of 'participate in' or 'run'. Spelling is generally accurate, and vocabulary errors do not impede communication, placing the response solidly in the Band 6 category.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, incorporating relative clauses and conditional structures. There are, nevertheless, noticeable grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, including subject-verb agreement issues ('not every person have enough money'), incorrect article usage ('in a one institute'), and awkward prepositions. While these errors do not impede overall communication and the reader can easily follow the argument, they occur with enough frequency to prevent the grammar score from reaching Band 7. A band score of 6.0 is appropriate.

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

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