Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-02

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)

It is widely beleived that in academic learning, courses should include specific time period spent abroad, either for study purpose or for gaining some experience by doing a work placement. I partially agree with this veiwpoint. Although it comes up with several benefits for students, but it also brings some noticeable drawbacks that should not be overlooked.

The advantage of spending time abroad is international exposer. Students can get to know about international standards used in their universities. They can learn about their way of teaching or sharing ideas to their students. Moreover, you will be able to compare between your level of understanding and their way of perceiving diffrent kinds of knowledge. The other advantage, you can get abroad is experiencing various cultures at their workplace. If you get an opportunity to work their, you will see how different nationalities people work peacefully under a same building. For instance, Google hire people from different countries and teach them the most crucial skills like, team work, leadership and many more. People working in such environment shre different ideas and cultues and undergraduate students can learn a lot from them.

On the other hand, the major drawback for most of the students is homesickness. By this I mean a major proportion of students had not spend time alone, or away from their families. So, many parents reported that, when they sent their children in a foriegn country, they started to miss them and consequently ended up living their, and arrived back in their home country. Another significant disadvantage of adding undergraduate course is simply adding a additional burden of cost, either on goverment or on the families, who are sponsoring their international visit. This will test countrie's economy if goverment is sponsoring them. For childrens, who are not even graduated, I believe it is not a good investement.

In conclusion, spending some time abroad for study purpose or work placement provide international exposer, broad your mindset by experiencing different cultures, but also become a cause of homesickness for most of the students. Additionaly, it also costs higher. Although, it offers some good benefits, it also comes with severe disadvantages that must not be ignored.

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 states a clear position of partial agreement in the introduction. However, the development of ideas is uneven. While the second body paragraph touches on international exposure and cultural exchange, referencing Google as an example, some ideas remain under-developed or somewhat repetitive, such as the discussion on teaching methods. The conclusion accurately summarises the main points presented throughout the essay, demonstrating a generally relevant response to the prompt even though certain arguments lack deeper extension and support.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a recognisable introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct ideas, such as moving from the benefits of studying abroad to the drawbacks like homesickness and financial burden. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty. For instance, the transition in the second paragraph ('The other advantage, you can get abroad is...') lacks smooth grammatical integration. Additionally, referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in the phrase 'By this I mean a major proportion of students had not spend time alone,' which disrupts the logical flow between sentences and ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The writer uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, attempting some less common words and phrases such as 'international exposer', 'work placement', and 'financial burden'. However, there are noticeable spelling and word-choice errors throughout the text, including 'beleived' instead of believed, 'veiwpoint' instead of viewpoint, 'exposer' instead of exposure, 'diffrent' instead of different, 'shre' instead of share, 'cultues' instead of cultures, 'foriegn' instead of foreign, 'goverment' instead of government, and 'broad' instead of broaden. These errors indicate a limited yet minimally adequate lexical range, where inaccuracies occasionally cause minor distraction for the reader without completely impeding communication.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response displays a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures such as conditional and concessive clauses ('Although it comes up with several benefits...'). However, there is a limited range of grammatical structures controlled accurately, and attempts at complex sentences are frequently marred by errors. Noticeable mistakes include subject-verb agreement issues ('Google hire', 'childrens', 'costs higher'), inappropriate prepositions ('work their' instead of there, 'under a same building'), tense inconsistencies ('had not spend'), and article usage. These errors occur fairly regularly, though they rarely impede overall communication of the writer's core ideas.

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