Band 4.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 4.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-18

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 4.0)

in this this education system are day by day developing. All university undergraduate courses should be include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing work there. The advantage of this trend outweigh its disadvantage.

To commence with benefits, the most prominent advantage is that different experiences. Study abroad are not similar . abroad study have lots of benefits and it can be good opportunity for make new friend . So students can earn new culture . students can archive new thing about abroad and gets various information.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 3.0

The response falls significantly below the required 250-word minimum, containing only 89 words. As a direct consequence of this severe under-length, the task cannot be fully addressed or adequately developed. While the student attempts to present a position stating that "The advantage of this trend outweigh its disadvantage" and introduces some basic ideas such as cultural exchange and making new friends, these points remain extremely limited and underdeveloped. There is no real extension of ideas, and the discussion lacks the necessary depth and support expected for an academic task 2 essay. Consequently, this performance aligns closely with the descriptors for Band 3.0, as the writing is far too brief to satisfy the core requirements of the task.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 4.0

The essay displays some basic attempts at organisation, such as the introductory phrase "To commence with benefits", but overall cohesion and logical progression are severely disrupted by the extreme brevity of the text. Paragraphing is poorly handled, with the response consisting of disjointed and fragmented sentences that do not flow naturally into a cohesive whole. Furthermore, referencing and cohesive devices are either misused or absent, making it difficult for the reader to follow a clear line of argument from one sentence to the next. The mechanical use of transitions and the repetitive sentence structures place this performance firmly within the Band 4.0 descriptor level, where information and ideas are not arranged in a fully coherent manner.

Lexical Resource — Band 4.0

The vocabulary used throughout the response is basic, repetitive, and heavily restricted. The student relies on simple words and phrases such as "different experiences", "lots of benefits", and "new friend", which severely limits the precision of the writing. There are also noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as "archive new thing" instead of "acquire new things" or "learn new things", and "abroad study" instead of "studying abroad". These lexical limitations and frequent inaccuracies strain the reader's understanding and restrict the vocabulary to a level that matches the Band 4 descriptors, where the lexical resource is basic and repetitive.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 4.0

The grammatical range is extremely limited, consisting mostly of very simple sentences alongside unsuccessful attempts at more complex structures. There are persistent and frequent grammatical errors throughout the short text, such as "in this this education system are day by day developing", "should be include", and "for make new friend". Subject-verb agreement errors, incorrect verb forms, and awkward phrasing disrupt the flow of the writing and occasionally distort the intended meaning. Because errors are frequent across the limited range of structures attempted, this warrants a Band 4.0 score under the grammatical range and accuracy criterion.

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

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