Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-23

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)

I believe universities offering a period of time spent study in abroad or doing work placement would make the student to learn many new things along with their undergraduate courses.

Firstly, providing time in studying abroad can make the undergraduate to learn more skills along with the individuals course. It makes the student to seek more knowledge with his or her travel. It makes the person to master new skills and technologies that are not present in his university.

Secondly, it makes the graduates to learn new cultures, to know different people and to explore new places, they had not

knew before.

Including the program of a part time study in abroad helps the undergraduates to know about the evolving technologies.

For example, there is student from an unrecognised university can not know the skills that are in current use, by offering a tenure of studying abroad can make student to develop more skills.

However, including a work placement would for sure benefit the students.

By providing a internship to the students can make them to get good jobs once after they graduate.

This can make the undergraduates to learn more working skills along with their educational skills.

This is because, do an internship by studying would ensure the person to know how the technology is used in the job.

For example, a undergraduate in computer engineering can only have the book knowledge but by providing work placements would actually make the person to know his working career is going to be.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing the advantages of studying abroad and doing work placements, taking a clear stance that these elements benefit students. However, the development of ideas is somewhat repetitive and lacks depth. For instance, the discussion on studying abroad focuses heavily on acquiring general 'skills' and 'technologies' without providing concrete, well-developed examples. The mention of 'a student from an unrecognised university' is unclear and poorly integrated. While all parts of the prompt are touched upon, the lack of sufficient extension and the minimal consideration of potential disadvantages places this response at Band 5.5.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay is organised into basic paragraphs with clear signposting words like 'Firstly', 'Secondly', and 'However'. However, the overall progression is hampered by repetitive sentence structures and a lack of smooth transitions between ideas. Paragraphing is attempted, but individual paragraphs are sometimes overly brief or consist of single, disjointed sentences. Furthermore, cohesive devices are occasionally mechanical or inaccurate, such as 'This is because, do an internship by studying would ensure...'. Referencing is sometimes unclear, leading to a score of 5.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is relatively basic and repetitive, with frequent reliance on general terms like 'skills', 'things', and 'knowledge'. There are noticeable lexical errors and awkward collocations throughout the text, such as 'study in abroad' instead of 'studying abroad', 'providing time in studying', and 'they had not knew before'. While the writer attempts some less common vocabulary such as 'evolving technologies' and 'work placements', inaccurate word formation and choice impede precision, reflecting the characteristics of Band 5.0.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The text displays a very limited range of grammatical structures, relying heavily on simple sentences and faulty attempts at complex forms. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the response, including subject-verb agreement issues ('a student... can not know', 'a undergraduate'), incorrect verb forms ('do an internship by studying'), and tense inconsistencies ('they had not knew before'). These frequent errors cause difficulty for the reader and prevent the grammar from reaching a higher band, justifying a score of 5.0.

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

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