Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-05

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 involve a duration of time spent studying oversea or doing work placement.

In my opinion, I believe that it is a good idea that universities include a period of time spent studying abroad, therefore I believe the advanatages outweigh the disadvantage.

Firstly, If schools undergraduate courses include a period of time spent on studying abroad, it will give opportunity to explore and learn new things from other countries. They get to learn their cultures and traditons. For example, learnig crafts and other hand made skills from the country.

Again, they use the opportunity to tour. most of the foreigners in other countries turn to tourist. They exlore and have fun while studying which makes it easier and and makes the place a comfortable environment to stay.

In contrary, it has a negative side too. Most people have the fear of going to other countries to study because of the fear of racism. Few people believe that the citizens of a particular country bully foreigners and maltreats them, because of this, they will not want to travel. The same applies to working in a foreign country, most foreigners are being maltreated by their co-workes and do not work freely or have peace at work.

For example, a black young man working in a company of white people, they will address him as black monkey, which will make him feel insecure about himself.

In conclusion, I believe that the advantages outweighs the disadvantages. It gives them opportunity to explore, make new friends, study in a different environment and atmosphere.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the task partially, with a clear position stated in the introduction that advantages outweigh disadvantages. However, the ideas remain limited and under-developed. For instance, the points about learning crafts or tourism are mentioned briefly without sufficient extension or support. The counter-argument introduces the relevant issue of racism, but the supporting example is somewhat oversimplified and lacks broader academic contextualisation. To move towards a higher band, the writer needs to fully develop each main idea with more substantive explanations, deeper analysis, and clearer supporting details rather than relying on brief generalisations.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates some organisation with clear paragraph breaks and basic linking words such as 'Firstly', 'In contrary', and 'In conclusion'. However, there is no clear overall progression of ideas throughout the essay, and the logical flow is sometimes disrupted by mechanical or repetitive transitions. Referencing is occasionally unclear, and cohesive devices are used rather simplistically. The use of 'In contrary' is inaccurate. To achieve a higher band, the writer should ensure a more sophisticated logical progression between paragraphs and employ a wider, more natural range of cohesive devices without over-relying on basic sequential markers.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate for the task. The writer attempts some less common words and phrases, such as 'work placement' and 'insecure', but there are noticeable errors in word choice, spelling, and word form, including 'oversea' instead of 'abroad', 'advanatages', 'traditons', 'learnig', and 'co-workes'. Furthermore, awkward phrasings like 'turn to tourist' and 'maltreats them' cause some difficulty for the reader. To improve lexical resource, the writer needs to expand their vocabulary range, pay closer attention to spelling and word forms, and use collocations more accurately.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The essay displays a limited range of sentence structures, relying primarily on simple sentences and basic complex forms. Attempts at more complex structures are often faulty, such as in the conditional clause 'If schools undergraduate courses include...', which lacks proper subject-verb agreement and punctuation. There are frequent errors in grammar, including missing articles, incorrect plurals, and preposition misuse, such as 'in a company of white people' and 'working freely'. These frequent errors can cause occasional difficulty for the reader. To reach a higher band, the writer must incorporate a wider variety of complex grammatical structures with significantly higher accuracy and better control over punctuation.

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