Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 2 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 21 · 2026-10-06

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 syllabus should have a time period for students to study abroad or do a work placement. I think this would be rather advantageous because this helps the students in getting international exposure and can also spike productivity and passion for their study.

Studying aborad or doing a work placement is a huge opportunity for the students. By doing so, they will be able to grasp the idea of study and work culture in abroad which will help them to have a broader knowledge in those aspects. There's also another advantage where students will be able to travel a new county which can turn out be be very memorable. After learning the culture of day to day life and work in another country, students will be able to come back to their country with greater knowledge on their sector and can also pass that knowlegde to others.

Meanwhile, there are few disadvantages like added cost in college fees, having to stay far from family, friends and pets. Some people tend to get homesickess which could cause demotivation or getting sick in a foreign country can feel pretty lonely as well. But in my opinion, students shold be open to these opportunities as it can bring huge impacts in their life and eventually make them wiser and more passionate after seeing a much larger view. Some disadvantages are inevitable but overall, it can bring much more than what one will loose.

Therefore, I think that the advantages of undergraduate students studying aborad or doing a work placement completely outweight the disadvantages. Its a opportunity that one just should not miss and regret later on. And I also feel that this system should be normalized in all sort of sectors..

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task and presents a clear position throughout, stating that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Relevant ideas are introduced, such as gaining international exposure, experiencing different work cultures, and facing added costs or homesickness. However, some ideas are under-developed or remain somewhat superficial. For instance, the point regarding passing knowledge to others after returning is mentioned briefly without specific elaboration or examples. To reach a higher level, the writer needs to extend and support all main arguments with deeper explanations and more concrete supporting details.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay displays a coherent overall arrangement with a clear logical progression from the introduction through the body paragraphs to the conclusion. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct points, such as advantages in the second paragraph and disadvantages in the third. However, cohesion is sometimes mechanical or relies on repetitive transitional phrases like 'By doing so' and 'After learning'. Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as the pronoun use in phrases like 'turn out be be very memorable'. To progress further, the writer should employ a wider and more flexible range of cohesive devices and ensure smoother transitions between sentences and ideas.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is adequate for the task, successfully conveying the writer's basic arguments with words like 'productivity', 'advantageous', and 'inevitable'. The writer attempts some less common vocabulary, such as 'exposure' and 'demotivation', but this is accompanied by noticeable errors in word choice, collocation, and spelling. Examples include spelling errors like 'aborad' and 'knowlegde', as well as awkward phrasing such as 'travel a new county' instead of 'travel to a new country' and 'all sort of sectors' instead of 'all sorts of sectors'. These errors are frequent enough to reveal a limited and minimally adequate lexical range for this topic.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writer uses a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, attempting structures like conditional and participial clauses in sentences such as 'After learning the culture of day to day life and work in another country, students will be able to come back...'. However, there is a limited range of reliable structures, and attempts at complex sentences are often marred by grammatical errors. These include subject-verb agreement issues like 'All university undergraduate syllabus should have' and 'Its a opportunity', alongside article omission errors such as 'in abroad'. While these errors rarely impede overall communication, they occur frequently and demonstrate a constrained control of grammatical accuracy.

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