Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-28

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)

It has to say that every universities undergraduate courses should add some amount of time to utilize knowing about studing foreign country also having time for part time job.Although adding extra period is harm the academic time, I reckon advantages outweight the disadvantages.

Adding extra time into university study can reduce the academic activities because focus of academic lecture will diverd. Students who are study for good great in their academic life it will fall as they foucus others matter rather than academic study. For example, in Asian country undergraduates student often take retake their academic courese since the spent more time for doing others non academic work.However, extra period for non-academic activities less beneficial for student, but time for learning about post graduate study and part time job have great impact in long run of students life.

In contrast, including amount of time for knowing higher study it creat significant impact on student life as they gether knowledge about the process of going abroad. It will help them to know about how to apply for scholorship and it make different in their post-graduation stage. For instance, every year from all over the world student apply for scholorship and they get the opportunity to going abroad without cost. It make a crucial impact on indivisual who are came from middle-class family.

In conclusion, though having extra period in undergraduate courses destry the academic focus but it make impect on student life who want to complet post graduate study in aborad with scholorship. That is why i think the advantages outweight the disadvantages.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses the prompt by discussing both the potential negative impact on academic focus and the long-term advantages related to studying abroad and gaining work experience. A clear position is stated in the introduction ('I reckon advantages outweight the disadvantages') and maintained throughout the essay. However, the ideas are somewhat underdeveloped and repetitive, falling into Band 6 descriptors. For instance, the discussion on academic distraction is supported by a generalized example about Asian country undergraduates taking retakes, but the arguments lack depth and clear elaboration. The conclusion briefly restates the main position, but overall, the task is addressed adequately without reaching the fully elaborated standards of Band 7.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a recognizable introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion, fulfilling basic organizational requirements. Paragraphing is utilized to separate different viewpoints, such as the drawbacks in the second paragraph and the benefits in the third. However, cohesion is frequently faulty and mechanical. Transitional markers like 'In contrast,' are used somewhat inappropriately since the third paragraph continues to support the advantages rather than contrasting with the previous paragraph. Furthermore, referencing is sometimes unclear, and cohesive devices are awkwardly handled, placing this performance solidly at Band 5.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'undergraduates', 'post-graduate', and 'scholarship'. However, there are frequent errors in word choice, spelling, and word forms that detract from the writing. Examples include 'studing' instead of 'studying', 'harm' instead of 'harmful', 'diverd' instead of 'diverted', 'great' instead of 'grades', 'gether' instead of 'gather', 'destry' instead of 'destroy', and 'aborad' instead of 'abroad'. While these errors do not completely impede communication, their high frequency prevents the score from reaching a higher band, placing it at Band 5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt at varied structures such as conditional or relative clauses. However, grammatical accuracy is weak, with frequent errors present throughout the text. Noticeable errors include subject-verb agreement issues ('every universities undergraduate courses should add', 'student often take retake'), missing articles ('in Asian country', 'from middle-class family'), and awkward phrasing ('It has to say that', 'Although adding extra period is harm'). These errors can occasionally cause difficulty for the reader and reflect a limitation in control over complex structures, corresponding to a Band 5 score.

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