Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-29

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)

Undergraduate courses of all university should require a certain amount of time spending on studying overseas or doing industrial training. In my opinion, the positive impacts of having such activities acceed the demerits of them. This essay analyses the advantages and disadvantages of such courseworks.

Graduates either pursue academia or join the industry after finishing their university. As they have freshly graduated, they often lack in experience. However, companies these days value hands-on experience. In order to gain these experiences, there are no alternative to getting practical demonstrations. Hence, it is important for the varsities to make such arrangements for their students to gain relavent experiences. For instance, learning about electronics from text books helps understand it theoretically. Nevertheless, it is not enough to imply those learnings in real life. That is when the need for practical knowledge is needed. Moreover, having to study abroad can broaden someones mind, especially for those who want to pursue higher studies. Having to work in the labs and facilities of other universities may open doors for more opportunites. Here is an example to understand it further; when I was doing research on machine learning, I felt the need for more powerful computers. Nevertheless, if I had gotten the opportunity to explore and had worked in other labs, I could have done a better job.

Such opportunities can have demerits as oppose to being resourceful. Working in a professional setting or studying abroad can have negative impact on student's life. As they are inexperienced, the lack of proper supervision can lead to unexpected incidents. As a result, such occurances can make the scholars fearful. For example, if they are to visit a factory and somehow it leads to any physical harm; it may cause hasitations of working there in the future. However, these can be avoided by maintaining proper guidelines.

To conclude, I believe that gathering experiences directly from industries or labs can be beneficial to the students, regardless of some risks.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

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 disadvantages. The ideas are generally relevant and extended, such as discussing hands-on experience and the broadening of the mind. However, some arguments tend to over-generalize or lack depth, such as the personal anecdote about machine learning labs, which remains somewhat anecdotal rather than fully developed analytically. Overall, the task is addressed adequately and a clear stance is maintained throughout, fitting the Band 6.5 to 7.0 criteria.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay presents a clear logical progression overall, moving from an introduction to advantages, then disadvantages, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate these distinct ideas. Cohesive devices are employed, such as 'However', 'Hence', and 'Moreover', though some referencing and transitional phrases are a bit mechanical or awkward, such as 'Here is an example to understand it further'. Paragraph transitions are functional, but the cohesion within paragraphs occasionally feels disjointed. This level of organisation and logical sequencing fits the Band 6.0 descriptor well.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as 'industrial training', 'acceed', 'academics', and 'varsities'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'acceed' instead of 'exceed', 'spending' instead of 'spent', and 'relavent' instead of 'relevant'. Spelling errors ('occurances', 'hasitations') also appear. While communication is not impeded, these inaccuracies prevent the score from reaching a higher band. The vocabulary is minimally sufficient to convey the intended meanings.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, including conditional structures and relative clauses. However, there are frequent grammatical errors and awkward phrasing, such as 'Undergraduate courses of all university should require', 'there are no alternative to getting', and 'can have negative impact on student's life'. Punctuation and article usage are also occasionally faulty. These errors do not prevent comprehension, but they occur frequently enough to restrict the score to Band 6.0, as error-free sentences are not in the majority.

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

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