Band 5.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.0 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-25

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)

It is a best approach to all university undergraduate courses include a period of time spent studing in foregn countries or engaging a work placement. I believe that this bring several advantages outweigh the drawbacks because this provide numerous opportunity to develop their ability; however, there are also certain dawnsides.

To begin with, there are several explanation why all aniversity undergraduate courses should include a period of time to study abroad or envolve job purposes. Initially, through studing abroad learners can enhance their communication skills and gain some valuable real-life experience. For example, some students really want to study abroad for high-quality education. As a result, they can completed their graduation from high-quality university and achieve some important certificate. Additionally, if students engage different types of part-time work placement they can earn more money and able to support their family by financially. Moreover, sometimes this approach helps to reduce unemployement in a country.

However, there are also certain drawbacks. After completing graduate, if students engage work placement it can detrimental effect on learners overall development. For instance, in Bangladesh, beside university study students involve many part-time jobs mainly for money criticism. Consequently, they can not proper attention on their study and they they achieve poor results in exams. Furthermore, living in a foreign country students struggle physically and emotionally. Some learners also struggle about languages and cultural.

In conclusion, although studing abroad and doing a work placement some students still struggle physically and mentally and sometime they can not achieve desire results in exams, I believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages because this approach provide plenty of opportunity students can enhance their communication skills and gain real-life experience.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

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 drawbacks. However, the development of ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive. For instance, the discussion on advantages largely revolves around communication skills and real-life experience without sufficient extension. Similarly, the counterarguments mentioning financial motivations and cultural struggles remain underdeveloped and rely on over-generalisation. While the main prompt is covered, the arguments lack depth and specific supporting evidence beyond vague references. These limitations place the performance firmly at Band 5.5, as the task is addressed, but the ideas are not fully explored or supported.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay is divided into logical paragraphs with a basic introduction, body paragraphs addressing advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. However, the overall progression is occasionally hindered by awkward phrasing and mechanical transitions such as 'To begin with', 'Initially', and 'Furthermore'. Cohesive devices are sometimes used inaccurately or repetitively, such as 'As a result' and 'Consequently' linking loosely related ideas. Paragraphing is present, but the internal cohesion within paragraphs suffers from abrupt shifts in focus, particularly in the second body paragraph where ideas jump from exam results to financial support and unemployment. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in pronoun ambiguity. This organizational structure and reliance on basic cohesive tools align with Band 5.0.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student uses a limited vocabulary range with noticeable errors in word choice and collocation that occasionally impede communication. Examples include 'best approach' instead of 'good approach', 'studing in foregn countries' with spelling errors, 'engaging a work placement' instead of 'undertaking', and 'money criticism' instead of 'financial pressure'. There are also frequent spelling mistakes such as 'studing', 'foregn', 'dawnsides', 'aniversity', 'unemployement', and 'cultural' when noun forms are required. While the vocabulary is minimally adequate to convey basic ideas about education and work placements, the high frequency of lexical inaccuracies and restricted range prevent the response from achieving a higher band.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response features a mix of simple and complex sentence structures, but attempts at complex forms are frequently faulty. Numerous grammatical errors occur throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('all university undergraduate courses include' instead of 'should include'), missing auxiliary verbs ('they can completed'), and incorrect tense or clause structures ('After completing graduate, if students engage work placement it can detrimental effect'). Punctuation and sentence boundary errors are also noticeable, such as run-on sentences in the conclusion. Although the meaning is generally retrievable despite the frequent errors, the high density of structural inaccuracies places this essay at Band 5.0.

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