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)

The undergraduate courses often lack the ability to develop any kind of skills in the student as they only focus on making them a book reader. Whereas it is a very crucial time of the age when you start to move in the practical life.

In my opinion there must be such courses as they teaches you about the realities of life because only reading books and gaining theoritical knowldege is not enough to survive in life. These courses can make you see through the reality of life at global level. As learning about abroad life it broadens your views and you get to know a lot about the other people thoughts and sociology which helps you in life to get progress easily as you get more social in lofe builiding up your network with different people similarly the work placement step should also be taken as it gets you close to learn about practical life For Example a person who never works in his life never get the chance to get social or build his network doing placement jobs will help them to build their own connections which can be beneficial in further life.

Apart from that surely in my opinion the advantages will outweigh the disadvantages as for example a socially connected person will get more success as compared to the isolated one who only limitize them to books and do not try to learn about the life For Example a person with work experience during studying will help to adjust them easily in their actual job after graduation. They will know how to survive the harsh realities of life much easily.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your response addresses the task partially by discussing the advantages of studying abroad and work placements, but the position is not always clearly sustained throughout. While you present relevant ideas about gaining practical life skills and building a professional network, these ideas remain limited and under-developed. For instance, you mention that studying abroad broadens views and helps with sociology, but this point is not extended or supported with specific examples. To move to a higher band, you need to ensure that both sides of the prompt are considered if necessary, and that your main arguments are fully explored with detailed explanations and concrete examples rather than relying on repetitive general statements.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some organisation present in your writing, but it lacks a clear overall progression from one paragraph to the next. The essay is divided into an introduction and two body paragraphs, which helps establish a basic structure; however, the flow of ideas is hindered by a lack of appropriate cohesive devices. Words and phrases used to connect ideas are often inadequate, repetitive, or mechanically applied, such as the frequent use of 'For Example' and 'Apart from that'. Additionally, referencing can be unclear, as seen with pronouns that do not clearly point back to their antecedents. To improve, you should focus on logically sequencing your arguments using a wider and more accurate variety of linking words, ensuring that each sentence smoothly flows into the next.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

Your vocabulary range is limited but minimally adequate for the task. You attempt to use some less common vocabulary, such as 'theoritical knowldege', 'sociology', and 'isolated', but there are noticeable errors in word choice, spelling, and word form that occasionally cause difficulty for the reader. For example, expressions like 'book reader', 'start to move in the practical life', and 'limitize them' show unnatural collocations and awkward phrasing. To reach the next band, you should expand your range of vocabulary by learning correct collocations and practicing accurate word forms, ensuring your spelling and lexical choices are more precise and appropriate for an academic context.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Your writing demonstrates a limited range of grammatical structures, relying heavily on simple or poorly connected sentences. When you attempt complex sentence forms, they are often faulty, featuring frequent errors in verb forms, subject-verb agreement, and prepositions. For example, phrases such as 'as they teaches you', 'help to adjust them easily', and missing articles like 'at global level' create frequent errors that can cause difficulty for the reader. Punctuation is also weak, with run-on sentences lacking proper terminal punctuation or commas. To progress, you need to develop a better mix of simple and complex structures while improving your control over basic grammatical rules and sentence boundaries.

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