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 the contemporary world, many universities are including special sessions for students to go abroad in order to study there or for the internship during their courses. While, some people say that all university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement, I believe that the advantages of this development will outweigh the disadvantages.
On the positive side, there is no doubt that including a session of abroad placement or seminars will definitely will help undergraduates to learn new things. As they will interact with people of different cultures and learn about their cultural practices. It will help them to gain valuable knowledge about their course because they will be taught by foreign teachers about their course. Furthermore, it will also help universities to gain global recognition, as their university will get a chance to advertise in global market, owing to many students from various countries will enroll in universities of that country.
On the negative side, students need to spend a lot of money to travel abroad during obtaining a degree, as they will have to bear travelling, visa, accomodation and misc expenses. It will put extra burden on parents of students as they are already paying fees for the university course. Meanwhile, it will increase the overall time duration of the course as students will spend some months in abroad or doing a work placement, it will addup in their course duration. Hence, if a course was originally 24 months long, after including these than the same course could be extended to 30 months or even more.
In conclusion, students will get benefit if a period of time spent studying abroad or doing a work placement is added to their courses. However, I believe that students should make decision wisely after looking through all the positive and negatives of these extras to the course.
AI examiner evaluation
| Criterion | Band |
|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Task Response | 6.0 |
| Coherence and Cohesion | 5.5 |
| Lexical Resource | 5.5 |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | 5.5 |
| Overall | 5.5 |
Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0
The student addresses all parts of the prompt, discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of including studying abroad or work placements in undergraduate courses, and clearly states a personal position in the introduction and conclusion. The ideas are generally relevant, such as cultural exposure and global university recognition for the benefits, and financial burden and extended course duration for the drawbacks. However, some ideas lack full extension and deep support. For instance, the point about universities gaining global recognition is slightly underdeveloped and shifts focus away from the student experience. Overall, the response meets the criteria for Band 6.5, leaning towards Band 7 as a clear position is maintained throughout, though further expansion of the core arguments would elevate the task response.
Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5
The essay is coherent overall with a clear logical arrangement divided into sensible paragraphs, including an introduction, two body paragraphs representing opposing views, and a conclusion. Transitional phrases like 'On the positive side', 'On the negative side', and 'In conclusion' are used to signpost the structure. However, referencing and cohesion can be somewhat mechanical or repetitive. For example, sentences like 'Furthermore, it will also help universities to gain global recognition, as their university will get a chance to advertise in global market' display clumsy referencing ('their university', 'that country'). Paragraphing is sufficient, but logical progression within paragraphs occasionally stumbles due to run-on structures. This places the response comfortably at Band 6.0.
Lexical Resource: Band 5.5
The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common lexical items such as 'contemporary world', 'work placement', 'cultural practices', and 'global recognition'. However, there are noticeable word choice and collocation errors, such as 'during obtaining a degree' (instead of 'while obtaining a degree'), 'misc expenses', and 'addup' (written as one word). Spelling and word formation errors also surface, like 'accomodation' (accommodation). While these errors do not seriously impede communication, they restrict the lexical score to a Band 6.0 because the precision and flexibility expected at Band 7 are not consistently demonstrated.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5
The essay displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt at varied structures through conditional clauses and relative clauses. However, grammatical accuracy is inconsistent. There are several noticeable errors, such as double modal/verb elements ('definitely will help'), missing articles ('in global market', 'in abroad'), and awkward punctuation or run-on sentences ('Meanwhile, it will increase the overall time duration of the course as students will spend some months in abroad or doing a work placement, it will addup in their course duration'). These errors occasionally cause the reader to pause, though communication is not severely hindered. This profile aligns well with a Band 6.0.
See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.
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