Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-20

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 education became a crucial part of indiviuals life. The students are eagarly waiting for more opportunities provided by the universities. Many students believe that the universities undergraduate courses should provide a separate time for spending on abroad studies or looking for better job opportunities. I firmly believe that the advantages of this would be more significant than it's disadvantages.

One of the major advantages of universities including the extra time to spent on studying abroad or working for placement is that the students can achieve the success in their future. most of the students are confused regarding their long term goals, if the universities provide extra time then the students can work on their long term goal by taking part in the placement drives where they could get interacted with the different organizations providing job opportunities. Some students moving to abroad for their higher studies, so they should have plans during their undergraduate course which prevent from wasting of time after graduation.

However, there are some disadvantages to this development. One of the significant drawbacks is that students are loosing their interest towards achademics. Due to this most of students are getting failed in their academics. As a result, students are dropping their courses during their under graduation. For intance, universities focusing more on their long term career goals instead of their academics. This can also affect to the reputation of the universities and might lose their admissions which reduced the annual profit of the universities.

To sum up, Although it have some disadvantages I firmly believe that the advantages outweight the disadvantages because it is important to a student to have their future goals, showing their keen interest toward abroad studies which help them to achieve success in their lifes. Nowadays, skilled people are getting more success then the topper of the university.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of including study abroad or work placements in undergraduate courses, and presents a clear position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Ideas are extended, particularly in the discussion of future career goals and avoiding wasted time after graduation. However, some arguments lack sufficient development and depth, such as the counter-argument regarding academic loss and university reputation, which is slightly underdeveloped and repetitive. Examples like 'for intance' are provided, but overall development falls just short of Band 7. Therefore, a Band 6.0 is appropriate as it presents a relevant and generally clear overview of the prompt.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.5

The essay has a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion, though paragraphing is somewhat problematic; the second body paragraph mixes the discussion of disadvantages with the consequences for university profits in a disjointed way. Cohesive devices are used, but sometimes mechanically or inappropriately, such as 'For intance' and 'To sum up, Although it have some disadvantages'. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen with pronouns like 'it' in the concluding sentence. Progression is visible, but the logical flow between sentences and paragraphs is occasionally disrupted by mechanical transitions and structural awkwardness. This aligns well with the Band 5.5 descriptor, bridging Band 5 and 6.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'undergraduate courses', 'placement drives', and 'long term goals'. However, there are frequent noticeable errors in word choice, spelling, and collocation, including 'indiviuals life' instead of 'individuals' lives', 'eagarly' instead of 'eagerly', 'loosing' instead of 'losing', and 'achademics' instead of 'academics'. Additionally, phrases like 'getting failed' and 'getting more success then the topper' reflect a limited control of natural lexical collocation. These inaccuracies occasionally cause minor difficulty for the reader, matching the Band 5.0 descriptors.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional structures ('if the universities provide extra time then the students can...'). However, grammatical control is weak, with frequent errors in articles, prepositions, subject-verb agreement, and tense consistency ('the education became', 'moving to abroad', 'prevent from wasting of time', 'Although it have some'). Punctuation and spelling errors are also persistent throughout the text. While communication is not completely impeded and basic meaning is conveyed, the high frequency of grammatical mistakes keeps the response at a Band 5.0 level.

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

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