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)

It is often suggested that every university undergraduate student should spend some time in another country or working in a company as a part of their degree. Although this policy may create some difficulties, I believe the advantage of this decision outweigh the disadvatages because students can gain their practical skills and improve essential personal skills. The narrative ahead shall articulate the merits as well as my opinion in the paragraphs before reaching coclusion.

One major advatage is that student can gain useful practical knoweldge. University education mainly focus on theorical subjects, while students can apply their practical knowledge in their working place. Even though they can learn from experts and employer how they solve the query and work effeciently. For example, software engineer student only learns and make some project in their college but if he work in any company then he can apply his coding language skills in real life and solve things.

Another benefit is that students can learn several important personal and social skills (which alllow them to succeed). Living in another country requires communication and independent skills. In other terms, when young people live in other country, they have to communicate with others and they must act autonomously. In the same way, they can learn this things in working place. To explain this, students should communicate with their colleauges so it would be easy for them to work their. Additionally, they can learn time management by managing the proper time between professional and personal life. However, it is quite difficult for those student who are not financialy capable. I mean it would be hard for them live in other country.

In conclusion, although, compulsory overseas study or work placement may create many financial issues, I think advatages are greater. It offers to sudents to learn practical skills and personal developments.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad or doing a work placement, and presents a clear position that the advantages outweigh the drawbacks. Relevant ideas are introduced, such as the acquisition of practical knowledge and the development of interpersonal skills. However, some ideas are under-developed or lack sufficient extension. For instance, the point regarding financial challenges for students is raised briefly in the third paragraph without being fully explored. To move to a higher level, the writer needs to extend all main ideas with more detailed explanations and fully developed supporting examples rather than relying on brief mentions.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction and conclusion, and the body paragraphs are logically divided into distinct themes, such as practical knowledge and personal skills. Cohesive devices are used throughout the text, including transition markers like 'One major advantage', 'Another benefit', and 'In conclusion'. However, referencing and cohesion can sometimes feel mechanical or slightly repetitive, and the introductory sentence 'The narrative ahead shall articulate...' sounds overly formal and somewhat unnatural in an academic essay. Paragraphing is used appropriately, but ensuring smoother transitions between sentences would further elevate the logical flow of the piece.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The writer demonstrates an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully attempting less common items and subject-related terms such as 'undergraduate', 'professional', and 'autonomously'. However, there are noticeable spelling errors throughout the text, such as 'disadvatages', 'coclusion', 'advatage', 'knoweldge', 'theorical', 'effeciently', 'alllow', 'colleauges', 'financialy', and 'sudents'. Additionally, word choice is occasionally imprecise, as seen in expressions like 'solve the query' or 'make some project'. These lexical and spelling errors do not impede communication overall, but they prevent the writer from achieving a higher band score due to the frequency of inaccuracies.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

The response demonstrates a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, utilizing structures with conditional or concessive clauses, such as 'Although this policy may create some difficulties...' and 'Even though they can learn from experts...'. There are some errors in grammar and punctuation, including subject-verb agreement issues ('the advantage... outweigh', 'student can gain'), article omissions ('in working place', 'in other country'), and awkward prepositions or phrasing ('manage the proper time between professional and personal life'). Nevertheless, these errors are relatively infrequent and rarely impede communication, allowing the reader to follow the argument without major difficulty.

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

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