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 university undergraduate courses should include a period of time spent studing abraod or doing abroad or doing a work placement. In my prespective the advantages definiatly surpass the disadvantages as doings anything pratically would adds to the skilss of the students as well as boost their level to meet the society.

Firslty, lets start with the advantages. Adding a specific period where the students must have to be in a work placement or a studing abroad experience will add to the skills and confidance of the students. This not only helps them to pratically experience of what they have learnt but also boostup their skills and exposure to meet he reality of the society.For example, during my last semester we were assigned to gave a work placement project. It it we have to do advertising and brand re-positoning of a real business. So by doing that work we gained a pratical experience of what we were taught. Alongside we had an experience of how the real world business works and how to deal with them.

There is also a disadvantage of that. The briellent student will get a spnosorship from the university or few can affordd studing abroad, but there are also such student who can not mange the expence of studing abroad. Also, there is a negative side that few people may use this opportunity forgranted and involve in some illigal activity there. For example, it has seen that there are some students who went to abraod to study but there they ditch university and involve in some illigal activities to earn money.

In conclusion, there are both sides, but in my prespective advantages definitlay outweigh disadvantage as if the universities psses strick rule and have full check and balance on students they must include studing abroad otherwise work placement is best and compulsary thing.

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, and presents a clear position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others. For instance, the advantage of gaining practical experience is supported by a personal example about advertising and brand re-positioning, which helps to extend the discussion. In contrast, the treatment of the disadvantages is somewhat limited and under-developed, relying on brief, sweeping assertions about financial difficulties and students potentially engaging in illegal activities abroad without sufficient expansion or deeper exploration. To move to a higher band, the writer would need to ensure all main ideas, particularly the counter-arguments, receive equal depth of extension and well-reasoned support throughout the essay.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear stance presented from the introduction through to the conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate the introduction, advantages, disadvantages, and conclusion, providing a logical framework for the discussion. However, cohesion is sometimes faulty or mechanical. For example, transitional phrases such as "Firslty, lets start with the advantages" feel overly conversational and slightly repetitive. Furthermore, referencing and logical linking between sentences can be abrupt, such as the sudden shift in the third paragraph where the text moves from financial barriers to illegal activities without smooth connective tissue. To achieve a higher score, the writer should employ a wider and more flexible variety of cohesive devices while ensuring referencing remains precise and unobtrusive.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully conveying the writer's basic points regarding education and practical work experience. The student attempts less common vocabulary, such as "re-positoning" and "sponsorship", but this is coupled with noticeable spelling and word choice errors throughout the text, including "studing", "abraod", "definitlały", "pratically", and "compulsary". While these lexical inaccuracies do not completely impede communication, they reflect a limited range and frequent spelling slips that prevent the writing from achieving precision. To improve this criterion, the writer needs to expand their control of spelling, refine word choices, and utilize less common lexical items more accurately and with better awareness of style.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting relative clauses and conditional structures, such as "if the universities psses strick rule... they must include studing abroad". However, there are numerous errors in grammar, punctuation, and word patterns that occur regularly, including subject-verb agreement issues like "doings anything pratically would adds", incorrect verb forms such as "assigned to gave", and prepositional errors. Despite these errors, the sentence structures are varied enough to communicate the core message without completely obscuring meaning. To reach a higher band, the writer must exercise better control over complex grammatical patterns, improve punctuation, and significantly reduce basic agreement and tense errors.

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