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)

Student always seek learning through different opportunities. Forexample most of the students start working practically during their study period to get experience side by side while others try to seek opportunity abroad. The trend that all university graduate courses should include a period of time spent studying abroad or doing work placement. Before explaining my point of view this essay demonstrates both of its advantages and disadvantages.

On the one hand, there has been a plenty of positive aspects of giving student different opportunities to learn or gain some practical experience during their course time. For example, allowing learners to get advanced knowledge on their majors by enrolling abroad Universities. No doubt there has been more advanced technology in labs or institutes abroad which helps student to get better experience compared to their homeland. Another advantage is that they get a chance to learn different cultures and religions. They develop a sense of responsibility and respect towards other cultures and their norms. Student also learn to manage their daily expenses by themselves without relying on their parents. Similarly, if students have allowed to work practically during their university time they will have gain more practical knowledge. This may help them to achieve a better opportunity in future career.

On the other hand, the drawback of aforementioned opportunities can not ignored. For example, if young student get opportunity to study abroad in such a young age without any support or guardian it may effect their behavior. Such as student may involved in activities other than studies because they know no one here has an eye on them. They become overly independent and may have a chance to engaged in bad companies. Similarly, by doing work placement during their course time most of the student unable to focus on their studies. Their routine become more hectic with work which may inreturn lead to exhalation. Furthermore, they unable to balance work and study which results in poor grades.

In conclusion, the drawbacks of giving students such opportunities should not be ignored but the advantages outweighs these drawbacks as students learn more better through these experiences.

In my opinion its advantages outweighs the disadvantages because students get more knowledge and experience as well as have a better future career opportunities.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

The response successfully addresses all parts of the task by discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of including studying abroad or work placements in undergraduate courses, and concludes with a clear personal position. However, some ideas are more fully developed than others. For instance, the advantages of studying abroad regarding advanced technology and cultural awareness are elaborated, whereas the points on work placements are somewhat brief and lack detailed support. Additionally, 12 words copied directly from the prompt were excluded from the official word count, though the text still comfortably exceeds the minimum length requirement overall. To reach the next level, the student should ensure all main ideas are extended with equally thorough explanations and specific examples.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The essay presents a coherent overall arrangement with a clear introduction, separate body paragraphs for advantages and disadvantages, and a conclusion. Information is generally ordered logically, making the progression of ideas easy to follow. However, cohesion at times feels mechanical or repetitive, particularly in the transitions between paragraphs such as using 'On the one hand' and 'On the other hand' in a somewhat rigid manner. Referencing is occasionally unclear, as seen in pronouns like 'they' or 'it' where the antecedent is slightly ambiguous. Paragraphing is used appropriately to separate distinct arguments, but more flexible and diverse cohesive devices would elevate the organisational quality of the writing.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The student displays an adequate range of vocabulary for the task, successfully communicating everyday academic concepts and attempting some less common vocabulary such as 'work placement', 'advocate', or 'independent'. However, there are noticeable lexical and spelling inaccuracies throughout the text, including run-on words like 'Forexample', missing articles or incorrect word forms like 'effect' instead of 'affect', 'exhalation' instead of 'exhaustion', and 'more better'. These spelling and word-choice errors do not completely impede communication, but they restrict the score because they reveal a lack of precision. Expanding word choice and mastering collocations will significantly improve this area.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

The writing contains a mix of simple and complex sentence forms, demonstrating an attempt to use varied structures such as conditional clauses ('if young student get opportunity...') and relative clauses. Nevertheless, there are frequent errors in grammar and punctuation, particularly regarding subject-verb agreement ('student always seek', 'most of the student unable'), pluralisation ('young student', 'better opportunity'), and missing auxiliary verbs or prepositions ('if students have allowed to work'). While these errors rarely impede the overall communication of the writer's ideas, they are persistent enough to prevent the grammar score from advancing. Greater control over basic agreements and verb structures is needed.

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