Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Nowadays, it is increasingly argued that all undergraduate students should spend part of the university education either studying abroad or completing a work placement. For many people, making such experience compulsary could create certain financial and logistical difficulties. However, there are both pros and cons to decide to do this. In this essay, I will discuss some of the reasons why students would spend time on developing valuable practical, social and professional skills and some of the challenges to be overcome.

Lets begin by looking at one major benefit of this approach is that it would bridge the gap between academic knowledge and the requirement of the workplace.What I mean by this is that university education oftern focuses heavily on theoractical cocepts, whereas a work placement allows students to apply what they have learned in real-world situations. For instance, an engineering student gain experience working on actual projects, while a bussines student could develop communication skills in a company. This can make you understand the fact that hirer also value those candidates who can demonstrate both academic knowledge and workplace experience.

Secondly, Living in another country exposes student to different cultures, educational systems and ways of thinking. As a result, these students can become more confiditent, independent and adaptable when interacting with people from diverse backgrounds. Take an example, these qualities are not negligible in a working enviroment especially in software industry, where they handle different global projects with international clients and teams, employers values these candidates who have any work experience or academic knowledge from abroad.

Turning to the other side of the argument, compulsary placements and overseas education could create disadvantage from some students. To be more precise, travelling abroad can be expensive, particularly for middle-class families with low-income, while work placements maybe difficult to arrange for students in their own specific field. Let's use an example to understand this whole disadvantage like there are some students who are doing well in their study and want to persue his career in the same field but with study they also doing part time jobs in small shops, tiny safes becuase the education there is expensive and finding work placements along with their part time job and studies is very difficult However, many of the universities also offer scholarship which help poor families persons to follow their dream and study abroad.

In conclusion, although compulsary academic study or work placements could create financial and organizational challenges, the development of practical skills, independence, cultutal awareness makes these experiences highly valuable. Therefore, I believe that their advantages would outweigh the disadvantages, provided universities offer sufficient financial and academic support.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of making study abroad or work placements compulsory during undergraduate courses. A clear position is maintained throughout, concluding that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The ideas are extended and supported with relevant examples, such as engineering and business students gaining practical experience, and the financial challenges faced by middle-class and low-income families. However, some arguments, such as the mention of students working in 'tiny safes' due to high living costs, are slightly underdeveloped and colloquial. Overall, the prompt is thoroughly tackled, meeting the criteria for a solid Band 7.0 performance.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a clear logical organisation and progression throughout. Information is coherently structured with an introduction, body paragraphs addressing both sides of the argument, and a concluding summary. Cohesive devices are used reasonably well to signal transitions, as seen in phrases like 'Lets begin by looking at one major benefit', 'Secondly', and 'Turning to the other side of the argument'. However, referencing and paragraph internal cohesion can occasionally be mechanical or slightly disjointed, notably in the overly long and dense fourth paragraph concerning financial struggles and part-time jobs. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to divide distinct points, securing a solid Band 6.5 score.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The student demonstrates an adequate to sufficient range of vocabulary for the task, attempting less common items such as 'logistical difficulties', 'compulsory', 'theoractical concepts', and 'cultutal awareness'. However, there are noticeable spelling errors ('compulsary', 'oftern', 'theoractical', 'cocepts', 'bussines', 'enviroment', 'cultutal') and some inaccurate word choices or awkward collocations like 'tiny safes'. Despite these lexical slips and minor inaccuracies, the vocabulary is sufficiently broad to convey the intended meaning clearly, resulting in a Band 6.0 performance.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, incorporating conditional structures and relative clauses. There are several grammatical and mechanical errors throughout the text, including subject-verb agreement issues ('an engineering student gain'), punctuation slips ('Lets begin'), and awkward phrasing ('decide to do this', 'expose student'). Additionally, some sentences are overly convoluted and contain run-on structures, particularly in the fourth paragraph. While these errors do not severely impede communication, they occur frequently enough to prevent the writing from achieving a higher band, placing it firmly at Band 6.0.

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