Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-22

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 5.0)

According to me, yes the advantages of all university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement would outweigh the disadvantage as this both are the most important topic for there carrier.

Taking about the advantages of having this both courses as that they can start preparing for there further goal more early as the main goal of all the students is generally going abroad for studies or getting a good work placement. As we sees in university's today there is very less time for preparation of this both things as student starts preparing it from the last year of the collage so it gets soo difficult for the students to prepare in this short amount of duration, so it gives a large advantage to student if this courses gets included in university.

Taking about disadvantages which are pretty low compare to the advantages we are getting is that the students will have more courses to study along with the regular courses which can leads to difficulty for students.

So according to me, by seeing the advantages and disadvantages i would agree that having this courses in university can be helpfull for student,

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response — Band 5.0

The response attempts to address the prompt by discussing whether mandatory study abroad or work placements are beneficial, and takes a clear position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. However, the ideas are severely under-developed and lack relevant examples from personal knowledge or experience. Furthermore, the response is only 201 words long, which clearly fails to meet the minimum requirement of 250 words. This under-length impacts the overall development of the task. Because the arguments are repetitive and lack sufficient support, the task achievement is limited to a Band 5.0.

Coherence and Cohesion — Band 5.0

The essay is divided into four short paragraphs, representing an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a brief conclusion. However, the logical progression is weak due to repetitive phrasing and poor referencing. Phrases like 'Taking about the advantages' and 'Taking about disadvantages' are awkward and used mechanically. Cohesive devices are generally inadequate and repetitive, such as the frequent reliance on 'so' to link clauses. Paragraphing is present, but the internal cohesion of the sentences often feels disjointed and difficult to follow. These issues place the response firmly at Band 5.0 for Coherence and Cohesion.

Lexical Resource — Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is very basic and repetitive throughout the essay. The student frequently misuses words and terms, such as 'carrier' instead of 'career', 'collage' instead of 'college', and 'duration' instead of 'period' or 'time'. There are also numerous collocation and word choice errors, such as 'having this both courses' and 'soo difficult'. The range of vocabulary is strictly limited and minimally adequate for the task, with frequent errors that cause some difficulty for the reader. This corresponds to a Band 5.0 for Lexical Resource.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy — Band 5.0

The response shows a very limited range of grammatical structures. Most sentences are simple or attempt complex forms that result in heavy structural errors, such as 'yes the advantages of all university undergraduate courses should include... would outweigh the disadvantage as this both are the most important topic for there carrier.' Punctuation and article usage are frequently incorrect, and basic spelling errors such as 'there' instead of 'their' and 'helpfull' appear multiple times. Grammatical errors are frequent and often cause strain for the reader, fitting the descriptors for Band 4.5 or 5.0.

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

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