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)

Third Level education(especially 16 years of education) institutions should incorporate timeline for abroad studies or work in their curricuulum. I think that its benefits are more than its drawbacks because it will provide theroratical as well as practical experience at international level along with its market exposure although it will be expensive to study or work abroad in a new country.

Undergraduate students have plenty of advantages whether they are working or studying in a foreign university. They will get hands on experience in their field of study as they will interact with different nationalities. Their coursework and practical learning will allow them to present themselves on a broader level and let them directly interact and understand job mrket. For instance, recent studies on universities who had followed this path has provide strong evidence of students getting better opportunites after studying and working abroad as compared to ones who haven't.

If universities are not including in bachelor courses then there will be Disadvantages. Implementation of this plan require a huge budget and permission from higher authorities as well as policies and collabpration with abroad educational institutes. It will aslo hard for students to live abroad in their teenage and get exposure in their early years. For instance, its a long procedure that can be accepted or not and it also require a big amount for sending students abroad. Government is included in this whole procedure especially if its public unversities and they required to approved their Course Curriculum from them.

In conclusion, pros of studying and working on a big scale in a new country are maximum while its cons are less because Government is included in it and it require an extensive budget.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The student addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of including studying abroad or work placements in undergraduate courses, and clearly states a position that the advantages outweigh the drawbacks. The ideas are relevant, noting practical experience, international exposure, budget requirements, and logistical hurdles. However, the development of ideas lacks depth and relies on broad generalizations rather than fully elaborated examples. For instance, the reference to 'recent studies on universities' is vague and unsupported. While a clear stance is maintained throughout the response, the support for the arguments remains somewhat limited and repetitive, which places this performance firmly at Band 6.0.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response is organized into four paragraphs, showing an attempt at a logical structure with an introduction, body paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. However, the progression of ideas is sometimes hindered by abrupt transitions and mechanical cohesive devices. For example, the sentence 'If universities are not including in bachelor courses then there will be Disadvantages' feels awkward and lacks smooth integration with the surrounding text. Referencing is occasionally unclear, such as 'Government is included in this whole procedure', where the pronoun reference and logical connection between government involvement and disadvantages are muddled. Paragraphing is present, but internal cohesion requires better management, resulting in a Band 5.5 score.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student attempts a range of vocabulary relevant to the academic prompt, using terms such as 'curriculum', 'undergraduate students', 'practical experience', and 'implementation'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, such as 'theroratical' instead of theoretical, 'collabpration' instead of collaboration, and 'aslo' instead of also. Furthermore, collocation is occasionally strained, as seen in phrases like 'maximum while its cons are less'. The vocabulary used is adequate to convey the basic message, but frequent slips in spelling and imprecise lexical choices prevent the score from reaching a higher band, aligning well with Band 5.5.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing subordinating conjunctions like 'although' and 'because'. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are frequent errors in article usage, preposition selection, and subject-verb agreement, such as 'timeline for abroad studies or work in their curricuulum', 'universities who had followed this path has provide', and 'it also require a big amount'. Additionally, punctuation and capitalization errors occur, such as mid-sentence capitalization in 'Disadvantages'. While these errors rarely completely impede communication, they are frequent enough to detract from fluency, justifying a Band 5.5.

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

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