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)

All courses of tertiary education should involve a certain period of time that would be spend by either persuing foreign lectures or gathering real world factory work experiences. In my opinion, this strategy is better in terms or prepare students to deal with real world problems compared to existing systems.

Regarding to studying abroad, this would be always benefical for undergrad students because this would offer them to learn about diverse perspective of a subject. Additionally, this would assist them to learn about the different cultures, people and their thinking perspective. As a result, not only their knowledge would be increased but also their views of seeing world would be changed positively. On the other hand, if students get a chance to work practically in a industry, it would definately increased his knowledge. For instance, a student who persuing a bachelor degree in a technical subject, when he/she will work in a related industry for some period, he/she would get a chance to to implememt their theoritical knowledge to practical issues. Hence, this would be a great way to understand the theoritical knowledge and improve understanding.

There are some drawbacks as well regarding this issue. By implementing studying abroad or doing a work placememt into tertiary curriculum, it would take extra time to be graduated. Moreover, not all students are not capable of visiting a foreign country as their economic condition may not so high particularly in middle class family in third world countries. Futhermore, engaging in factory works sometimes may be destractive for the focus of the students on their study even thought these are minor issues.

In conclusion, including foreign lectures or real work experiences to undergraduate university courses have several befinits with a ignorable demerits.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of including study abroad or work placements in undergraduate courses, presenting a clear overall position that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. However, some ideas are developed more fully than others. For instance, the advantages regarding cultural perspectives and practical application are supported with some explanation, whereas the disadvantages are treated rather superficially, stating points like taking extra time or economic challenges without deep exploration. To reach a higher level, all aspects of the argument need equal extension and more thorough elaboration.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, body paragraphs addressing advantages and disadvantages separately, and a brief conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to structure the text. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical and referencing is not always clear, with repetitive transitional phrases like 'Additionally' and 'Moreover'. While logical progression is generally maintained, the connections between sentences occasionally feel forced. To improve, the writer should use a wider variety of cohesive devices more flexibly and ensure smoother transitions between ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as 'tertiary education', 'diverse perspective', and 'theoritical knowledge'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, such as 'persuing', 'benefical', 'definately', 'implememt', 'placememt', and 'destractive', alongside awkward collocations like 'gathering real world factory work experiences'. Although these errors do not seriously impede communication, they highlight limitations in lexical control. Enhancing accuracy in spelling and word choice would significantly strengthen this area.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional structures and relative clauses used in 'if students get a chance to work practically in a industry...'. There are some errors in grammar, punctuation, and article usage, including prepositions and subject-verb agreement issues like 'not all students are not capable' and 'a industry'. However, these errors rarely impede communication and the meaning remains clear. To achieve a higher score, the writer needs to increase the proportion of error-free complex sentences and exercise tighter control over grammatical patterns.

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