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)

Majority universities offering undergraduate courses should follow an approach by facilitating students to study abroad or providing them employment opportunities. This essay will discuss both advantage and disadvantagesl of offering chances for foreign education or jobs placement.

The benefit of providing opportunity to continue education in foreign countries or giving jobs will help students to get exposure of practical world and represent their culture outside their nation. The reason to support my stance is that students can adopt practical experience and gain confidence before starting their professional life. As a result, this will reflect as a value addition to their curriculum vitae moreover, they will also build a connection with different ethnicities by sharing their culture with them. For instance, if any student is facililated by its university to study abroad or acquire job opportunity this will eventually create a platform for him to represent its nation on global level.

The disadvantages of this approach is that a student has to face higher expenses challenges and workload stress. While studying abroad, a person has to cover all kinds of expenses on his own and working while studying will lead to huge stress. Consequently, this will affect their curriculum to achieve good scores. For example, if a student is studying abroad and doing part time job side by side to cover expenses, this will negatively affect academic performance and cause severe mental health problems.

In conclusion, I strongly believe that undergraduate university supporting foreign education or prov

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.0

The response addresses the prompt regarding whether undergraduate courses should include studying abroad or work placements, and touches upon both advantages and disadvantages. However, the ideas are rather limited and under-developed, with the discussion remaining somewhat generalized and repetitive rather than fully extended with deep analysis. Furthermore, the response fails to meet the minimum word count requirement of 250 words, coming in slightly short at 246 words. The position is stated, but the conclusion is abruptly cut off mid-sentence due to the lack of sufficient length, which restricts the overall development of the task.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates some organisation with a recognizable introduction, body paragraphs addressing advantages and disadvantages, and a truncated conclusion. However, there is a lack of clear overall progression, and the logical flow is occasionally hindered by mechanical or repetitive cohesive devices, such as the frequent reliance on 'For example' and 'moreover'. Paragraphing is attempted, but the abrupt ending disrupts the structural unity of the essay. Referencing is generally functional, yet connections between sentences can feel disjointed at times, preventing the text from achieving a smoother, more sophisticated progression of ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is minimally adequate for the task, providing enough range to discuss the topic but displaying noticeable limitations and errors in word choice and spelling. Examples of lexical issues include 'Majority universities' instead of 'The majority of universities', 'disadvantagesl' (a typo), and awkward phrasing like 'acquire job opportunity'. While the writer attempts some less common vocabulary such as 'ethnicities' and 'professional life', inaccuracies in collocation and word formation cause some minor strain for the reader, keeping the lexical standard within the mid-range level.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The writer attempts a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, such as conditional structures ('if any student is facilitated...'), but these attempts at complex structures are frequently marred by grammatical errors. There are noticeable issues with singular/plural agreement ('Majority universities offering', 'disadvantages of this approach is'), missing articles ('on global level'), and prepositions. Frequent errors in grammar and punctuation are present throughout the text, though they rarely impede overall communication entirely. To improve, the writer needs to enhance control over basic sentence mechanics and reduce the frequency of structural slips.

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