Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-26

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)

All college undergraduate courses should added certain time to studying abroad or doing a work placement. I believe the advantages of this would outweigh the disadvantages because it helps to develop pratical skills such as a real life challanges and they can explore diffrent culture.

There are certain advantages but main advanatge is time to doing a work placement helps to develop certain skills such as a communication skills, creativity, problem solving skills and responsiblity. Furthermore, it can also helps to apply knowladge in real life situation whatever they studied in university. For instance, pharmacy learners studied certain subject such as a pharmacology and pharmaceutices.They can utilise this knowlagde in clincs, hospitals and industries with the help of work placement or vocational training as a result they can effectively apply this knowlagde in professional settings.

Advantage of studying abroad leads to wide range of opportunities for the future and access high quality education. Many foregin universities offer advanced facilities, experienced professors and pratical learning programme which might not available in certain developing country. For instance, a student from the India who studies engineering in countries such as a the US, the UK and the Australia may have opportunities in international environment. As a result Students can develop professional skills and become more indepent and confident

However, there are certain disadvantages students may faced study gap, if they spent time to doing a work placement. learners may lose intrest in studies and sometimes they can lose certain countinouse learning skills it may affect their career. For intance, worker lose some basic learning skills due to working everyday repitative task. As a result it may affect to social and other certain skills.

In conclusion, I believe the advantages improve communication skills, creativity, problem solving skills and responsiblity with the wide range of opportunities and high quality education.

However certain drawbacks such as study gap and lose of intrest to learning courses

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 takes a clear position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Main ideas are presented, such as the development of practical skills, exposure to different cultures, and potential drawbacks like study gaps. However, the development of these ideas is somewhat limited and repetitive, with several sweeping generalisations rather than fully extended arguments. For instance, the discussion on work placements introduces valid examples like pharmacy learners, but overall the support remains basic. This places the response comfortably at Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion, and paragraphs are generally used to separate distinct points, such as work placements versus studying abroad and disadvantages. However, cohesion is frequently faulty or mechanical. Words like 'Furthermore', 'For instance', and 'However' are used, but referencing is sometimes unclear, and the logical progression between sentences is occasionally disrupted by abrupt transitions or grammatical slips. For example, the transition into the fourth paragraph ('However, there are certain disadvantages students may faced study gap...') feels clunky. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion lacks flexibility, leading to a Band 6.0 performance.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student attempts less common vocabulary throughout the essay, such as 'vocational training', 'pharmacology', and 'international environment'. However, there are frequent spelling and word-choice errors, such as 'pratical', 'diffrent', 'advanatge', 'knowladge', 'indepent', and 'countinouse'. While these errors do not impede overall communication—the reader can easily understand the intended meaning—they reveal a lack of control over word spelling and collocations. The range is adequate for the task, but the density of lexical inaccuracies prevents the response from reaching Band 6.5, making Band 6.0 the most accurate descriptor.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures such as 'Many foreign universities offer advanced facilities... which might not available in certain developing country.' However, there are persistent grammatical errors, including missing auxiliary verbs ('students may faced'), incorrect tense usage ('worker lose some basic learning skills'), and prepositional errors ('study gap, if they spent time to doing a work placement'). Although these errors do not fully obscure the meaning, they occur frequently and demonstrate limited control over complex syntactic structures, aligning closely with Band 5.0 descriptors.

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