Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-03

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 often suggested that undergraduate students should include a period of studying abroad and doing a work placement in my opinion advantage of this approach would outweigh the disadvantages because it can provides student valuable experience, financial growth and stability and also how to face the personal difficulties.

First of all, the one major advantage of work placement at the undergraduate programs to gain practical and theoretical experience as well. university education mainly provides theoretical experience but working in the professional way provides student to more experienced in their field and more knowledge about the courses. when the person undergraduate from the university the practical experience works in their daily life and jobs and also overcome the pressure of pursuing another field.For example, biology student who spend several month in laboratory can gain more experience rather than in theoretical studies they also gain knowledge about equipments and research because they may not available in daily classes.

studying abroad can also valuable for personal growth and also living in different countries expose their culture , different tradition, educational system and way of thinking as a result student becomes more independent and confident.

however, there are disadvantages to live away from the family and most of the people may not afford the accomodation of houses, food and living expenses.

i believe their benefits are greater than their disadvantages it may improves personal development and life skils.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the task partially, and importantly, the length requirement is not met as the essay falls 15 words short of the 250-word minimum. The writer does present a position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, touching upon personal and professional development. However, the ideas remain limited and under-developed. For instance, the point regarding financial growth and stability in the introduction is not subsequently expanded upon in the body paragraphs. To move to a higher band, the response must meet the minimum word count and extend all main ideas with more fully explained supporting details and examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some basic organisation with transitional markers such as "First of all" and "however", but the essay lacks an overall clear progression. Paragraphing is attempted, but the body paragraphs are disjointed and the conclusion is extremely brief, consisting of a single under-developed sentence. Furthermore, cohesive devices are sometimes inadequate or inaccurate, such as repetitive referencing and missing transitions between sentences. To improve, the writer needs to structure the essay into distinct, balanced paragraphs that logically flow from one idea to the next, using a wider and more accurate range of cohesive ties.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.5

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to convey the basic meaning. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as "practical and theoretical experience" and "personal development", but there are noticeable errors in word choice, form, and collocation, such as writing "person undergraduate" instead of "graduate" or "undergraduate student". Spelling and word-form errors occur, for example, writing "skils" and "accomodation". To achieve a higher score, the writer must expand their lexical range and use words with greater precision and correct morphological forms.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The response demonstrates a very limited range of sentence structures, relying mostly on simple or faulty complex sentences. There are frequent grammatical errors throughout the text, including issues with subject-verb agreement (e.g., "advantage of this approach would outweigh", "it can provides student"), missing articles (e.g., "spend several month in laboratory"), and severe punctuation and capitalization issues, such as starting sentences with lowercase letters. These frequent errors cause difficulty for the reader. To progress, the writer needs to increase control over basic grammatical structures, improve punctuation, and carefully proofread for verb forms and agreements.

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

Browse more IELTS Writing model answers or get your own writing scored by the same AI examiner.