Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-09-30

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)

In today's rapidly evolving world, Some individuals consider that all the teenagers should be provided with some time to work as an employee or study abroad to expand their knowledge while other thinks that it is not a excellent idea and has many demerits. I strongly believed that it is positive trend and we should encourage it as it has many advantages like it plays crucial role in helping studens to learn practical skills and help them to boost their experience.

To begin with, One of the primary merits is that if a young person or a student is given time to work or to do a job he can earn his own money which provides him with financial security and he also came to learn different experiences as he meets different type of people in his daily life which increases his power of judging and learn how to do variety of works. For example, in America mostly undergraduates are given time to do work as a result it helps to improve their country economic and social development.

Another biggest advantage of this is that allowing pupils to pursue their higher education abroad is significant for learning different life skills. It has secondary effect on everyone lifes. A person studying abroad learn to manage budget and also learn how to maintain the balance between work and studies. These are the skills which plays major role in every path of life. For instance, in Euorpean countries government allow their teenagers to work and live separatly from their parents to build rheir own life and learn prctical skills.

In conclusion, From my prespective, allowing students to work or providing them a chance to study abroad has a lot of advantages and these advantages outweigh the disadvantages caused by this. So, we should encourage this system as it helps to boost knowledge and learn different experiences.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the prompt by discussing whether the advantages of spending time studying abroad or doing a work placement outweigh the disadvantages. A clear position is stated in the introduction ("I strongly believed that it is positive trend") and maintained throughout the essay. Main ideas are presented, such as gaining practical skills, financial security, and learning independence. However, the development of these ideas tends to be repetitive and relies on broad generalisations rather than deep elaboration. For instance, the example regarding America helping to improve economic and social development is somewhat vague and underdeveloped. Despite these limitations in support, all parts of the prompt are addressed, aligning well with the criteria for Band 6.5 or a solid Band 6.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The essay displays a clear overall arrangement with a traditional four-paragraph structure comprising an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct main points. Cohesive devices are employed to link ideas, such as "To begin with," "Another biggest advantage," and "In conclusion." However, some cohesion is slightly mechanical or repetitive, and referencing is occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun shifts between singular and plural forms ("a young person... he... they"). Nevertheless, there is a clear logical progression throughout the response, which supports the overall readability and fits the requirements for Band 6.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common items such as "financial security," "practical skills," and "social development." However, there are notable lexical errors and imprecise word choices throughout the text, including "it is not a excellent idea" (grammatical article error coupled with vocabulary), "came to learn" (incorrect collocation), and spelling mistakes such as "studens," "separatly," and "prctical." While these errors do not severely impede communication, they restrict the lexical score to Band 5.5, as they demonstrate a lack of precision and control over less common lexical items.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response exhibits a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt at structures with clauses (e.g., "...if a young person or a student is given time to work or to do a job he can earn his own money..."). However, the text contains frequent grammatical errors, particularly regarding subject-verb agreement ("Some individuals consider... while other thinks," "skill which plays"), punctuation, and articles ("a excellent idea," "positive trend"). While these errors do not totally obscure the writer's meaning, they occur regularly enough to disrupt fluency and prevent the grammar score from reaching Band 6.0.

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