Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · 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 6.0)

Every higher education undergraduate program should give students an opportunity to move abroad for further studies or work internship. From my perspective, the benefits exceed the drawbacks because in this way, students will be ready to explore new cultures, followed by a great work experience.

Initially, giving a chance to learners to spend a time period in abroad for graduation or working temporarily can increase students confident to survive in new cultures and also assist then in gaining work. experience. Moreover, the students learn new languages that is better for understanding eachother more closely. The learners will also have working experience that will help them finding their desired. For instance, my cousin got an internship during his university study and after completing his study he received offers from many well-known companies base of his background experience.

However, the notion also contain disadvantages including disturbance in study and also managing finance for studying in another country. It is difficult for several students to maintain their studies and work at the same time. As a result, they cannot pay attention to their studies and loss their marks. Furthermore, a lot of students belonging from low-income families cannot afford to study in foreign country. For example, many students in Pakistan are working during their studies consequently, they fails or achieve their expected marks.

In conclusion, despite the financial challenges and study hurdles the benefits are significantly high. They ensure the promising future of students and also doing their dream job and travelling to their desired country.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by presenting a clear position on whether the advantages of studying abroad or doing a work placement outweigh the disadvantages. Relevant ideas are presented, such as cultural exploration, language learning, and future career prospects in the second paragraph, alongside financial challenges and academic disruption in the third. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others. While the advantages are supported with a relevant personal example about a cousin, the disadvantages remain somewhat under-developed and general. The conclusion successfully summarises the writer's stance. To reach a higher level, the response needs to extend and support all main ideas more thoroughly with equal depth throughout the body paragraphs.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear staging of ideas, moving from an introduction to advantages, then disadvantages, and a final conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct themes. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical, as seen with transitional phrases like "Initially" used where "First" or "Firstly" would be more natural, and occasional awkward referencing. For instance, the transition between ideas within paragraphs could be smoother to establish clearer logical progression. To improve, the writer should employ a wider range of cohesive devices more flexibly and ensure that referencing between sentences is consistently clear and precise.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The writer uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items such as "work internship", "background experience", and "low-income families". However, there are noticeable lexical inaccuracies in word choice, collocation, and word form throughout the text. Examples include "spend a time period in abroad" (instead of "abroad"), "increase students confident" (instead of "confidence"), "help them finding" (instead of "finding" or "to find"), and "loss their marks" (instead of "lose"). There are also awkward phrasings such as "base of his background experience". These errors do not seriously impede communication, but they restrict the score. To progress, the writer needs to refine word choices and ensure correct word forms and collocations.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures such as conditional and relative clauses. There are some errors in grammar, punctuation, and articles, including missing articles ("in foreign country"), incorrect preposition usage ("base of"), subject-verb agreement issues ("they fails"), and awkward punctuation or sentence fragments (such as ending a sentence abruptly with "desired."). Nevertheless, these grammatical errors rarely impede communication. To achieve a higher band, the writer should increase the frequency of error-free complex sentences and exercise tighter control over punctuation, articles, and verb forms.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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