Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-04

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)

Many people should belive that take outside of acadmic it help in life and enviroment. either undertaking studying outside and works placement.I believe that a taking advantage of the approach overwigh it's disadavntage.

On the major adavntages of gaining pratical expriance in outside. The approach help in real life how knowledge aqauire in university. As a biotechnology student working in lab several months with guide worked with laboratoary equipment, tehy have learn throught from the university teachers is teaching about their reqirement.After the gradutaion student they have prepared unempoyment.

Some other benefit student become more indepedent. Living and working in an unfamiliar environment requires them to solve problems without relying heavily on their families or teachers. This can improve their confidence, communication skills and ability to adapt to different situations. For instance, a student studying in another country may need to communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds and manage daily responsibilities independently

This approach also has some disadvantages. The most significant problem is the financial burden that may be placed on student. Travel, accommodation and living expenses can be expensive, particularly for students from low-income families. In addition, some students may find it difficult to adapt to a new culture or working environment these problems can be reduced through university funding, scholarships and carefully organised placements.

In conclusion, Student taking gloabal exposers in educational expriance oveall better for their jobs possibility high beacuse they gotten international degree certificate in their feilds.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

Your response addresses the prompt by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad or undertaking a work placement, taking a clear position that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. However, some ideas are under-developed or lack full clarity, such as the initial reference to environment and the fragmented supporting examples in the second paragraph. Furthermore, your response fails to meet the minimum length requirement, containing only 242 words instead of the required 250, which negatively impacts task completion. To reach a higher band, you need to ensure that every main idea is fully extended and supported with clear, coherent examples, while strictly meeting the minimum word count.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

Your essay demonstrates a coherent overall arrangement with a recognisable introduction, body paragraphs addressing both benefits and drawbacks, and a conclusion. Paragraphing is used sufficiently to separate distinct ideas, such as independence, financial burdens, and global exposure. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or faulty, and referencing is not always clear, particularly in transitional sentences where logical progression breaks down. For instance, phrases like 'Some other benefit' and 'This approach also has some disadvantages' function as cohesive devices, but the links between sentences can be abrupt. To improve further, you should use a wider variety of cohesive devices more naturally and ensure smoother transitions between sentences and paragraphs to establish a clearer overall progression.

Lexical Resource: Band 4.5

Your vocabulary range is limited but minimally adequate for addressing the topic, featuring attempts at less common items such as 'biotechnology', 'unfamiliar environment', and 'financial burden'. However, there are noticeable errors in word choice, word form, and spelling throughout the text, such as 'belive', 'acadmic', 'enviroment', 'overwigh', 'disadavntage', 'adavntages', 'pratical', 'expriance', 'aqauire', 'unempoyment', and 'exposers'. These frequent lexical inaccuracies can cause some difficulty for the reader and impede smooth communication. To move up to a higher band, you need to expand your vocabulary range and significantly improve your spelling and word formation accuracy by carefully checking your work.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

Your response uses a limited range of sentence structures, featuring a mix of simple statements and some attempts at more complex forms. However, your attempts at complex sentences are frequently faulty, and there are frequent errors in grammar, articles, pluralisation, and verb forms that cause difficulty for the reader. Examples of structural and grammatical errors include 'Many people should belive that take outside of acadmic it help', 'either undertaking studying outside and works placement', 'As a biotechnology student working in lab several months with guide worked with laboratoary equipment, tehy have learn throught from the university teachers is teaching', and 'Student taking gloabal exposers in educational expriance oveall better'. To achieve a higher band, you must increase your control over grammatical structures, reduce the frequency of basic errors, and ensure accurate subject-verb agreement and punctuation.

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

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