Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-01

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 modern world, everyone is getting education, because they consider it a source of success. To cope with the expectations of society continuous advancements are required, so that the public get opportunities. The concept of providing every university undergraduate student the chance to study abroad or doing a work placement is getting popular. In this essay i am going to discuss both cons and pros of this advancement.

Lets commence by considering one of the advantages of studing abroad or doing a work placement. Firstly, this chance can broaden the horizens of the scholars. As, the world is your oyster, and it is abundent of opportunities. So it is the duty of a educational institution to provide its students chances to learn, prosper,thrive and grow. For instance, if a learner gets opportunity to work or study abroad, he or she will improve his or her personality. In addition, they will be organized, confident and bold.

Furthermore, they wake up and smell the coffee. They will face the reality of world ,when they interect with different communities. They practically understand the meaning of the financial litteracy. Therefore, they learn the importance of money. To illustrate, they work at different places to earn, and they find out, how difficult it is to earn money. So they develop and become mature.

However, some face homesickness and find living abroad difficult. Living abroad and working is not everyones cup of tea. Besides, racism and extremism make the environment harsh for students. For example, some of the students suffer through mental illness, and they start to ruin themselves, instead of improvement.

In summary, living abroad and doing a work placement are great opportunities, as they offer different benefits. A student gets mature, independent and organized. In contrast, some disadvantages are also present. This include homesickness and racism, but advantages exceed disadvantages. Personally speaking the advantages outweigh disadvantages.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both advantages and disadvantages, and a clear position is presented at the end. However, the ideas are somewhat limited and under-developed. For instance, the discussion on financial literacy and personal growth contains broad generalizations rather than fully elaborated examples. Some points are repetitious, particularly the mention of students becoming mature and organized across multiple paragraphs. To reach a higher band, the ideas would need to be extended with more specific explanations and concrete examples that directly support the central argument rather than relying on repetitive assertions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is a clear attempt at organizing the essay into paragraphs with an introduction, body paragraphs focusing on pros and cons, and a conclusion. However, there is a lack of clear overall progression, and the logical transition between paragraphs is sometimes mechanical. Cohesive devices are used, but they are occasionally inadequate or repetitive, such as the frequent use of transition phrases like 'To illustrate' and 'Besides'. Paragraphing is present, but the internal flow of ideas within paragraphs feels disjointed at times. Improving the sophistication of linking words and ensuring a smoother logical flow between sentences would help elevate the coherence of the response.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate for the task. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'abundent' (abundant), 'interect' (interact), and 'litteracy' (literacy), but these attempts are often marred by noticeable spelling errors. There is also a heavy reliance on informal idioms and clichés, such as 'the world is your oyster', 'wake up and smell the coffee', and 'everyones cup of tea', which are inappropriate for an academic essay. Word choice is sometimes imprecise, and these lexical limitations cause some difficulty for the reader and prevent the vocabulary from reaching a higher standard.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer demonstrates a limited range of structures, relying mostly on simple sentences alongside a few attempts at complex sentences. These attempts at complex structures are often faulty, featuring frequent errors in punctuation, articles, and prepositions within grammatical patterns. Examples of errors include missing articles ('a educational institution'), incorrect capitalization and spacing ('In this essay i'), and awkward phrasing ('suffer through mental illness'). These frequent errors in grammar and mechanics cause occasional difficulty for the reader, though the core meaning usually remains understandable. Incorporating a wider variety of error-free complex sentence structures is necessary for further improvement.

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